As a Ninja
by Iamwhononofyouare
Summary: Getting transported- reincarnated if you will- into the Naruto-verse was... unexpected. Then again, getting Orochimaru as my teacher was too. Self-Insert.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**Important: Please review after you finish the chapter.**

Chapter One: Gary Stue, or not

I was never quite sure how exactly it happened, but before I knew it my life as a normalish fifteen year old was gone and the sweet oblivion of being blind for months set in.

As I tried to move my body I realized that it was not truly my own, starting with the fact that I could feel my rather underdeveloped fingers, months later I was greeted with air...

The rest was a blur as I began wailing and passed out shortly. The following morning I realized with great fascination that yesterday had been my _birthday._

And so I smiled a cute babyish smile and then I was struck with a terrifying thought, I did not know the language of these people, and they did not know mine.

Of course I never considered that my tiny little brain was well suited for learning new languages. However when a day later that thought came I was pleasantly surprised that it was a language I had the minutest knowledge of, Japanese.

Of course this left the question of where and more importantly when I was; I had noticed that the clothing was far from modern.

Naturally I also recognized the most significant problem I was faced with, reading. Well, that could wait I supposed, I was very tired.

In my previous life, as I would now call it, I had never thought myself physically powerful, beyond a few pride filled moments where I bested _wimps_ my age. Still, I certainly didn't know anything combat related, something I had every intention of rectifying. After all, fighting was cool, wasn't it?

So in light of my new found enthusiasm, I rolled over in my little crib and began a frightfully pitiful attempt at a push-up. I looked at my fat filled pudgy arms in unhidden contempt as I began to think of a way out of this dilemma.

I realized with growing frustration that I had no way but to wait.

**1 Year Later**

Let it never be said that I cannot learn a new language, for I have proven the naysayers wrong, idiocy aside, I felt somewhat proud of my new found ability to communicate. I had learned, by now, that Haha was Haha and Chichi was Chichi, I had not yet discovered what their given names were.

My own name, I had known for months now, was Nanashi, or as Haha put it, Nana-chan. Though it sounded rather girlish if I had to say, Nana-chan, not Nanashi.

Recently I had also discovered I had an older brother with whom I shared a large age gap. His name was ... nii-san. Rather embarrassingly I did not have knowledge of _his_ given name either.

Well, names and family aside, I had made excellent headway in my private push-up contest, as my rather impressive four can attest to. Of course, I was shooting for at least 300 in ten years or so, admittedly, I was rather incapable of pressuring myself to such an extent, so I hoped that my family would goad me on, well, I did now. Doubtlessly if they did, it would irk my less than saintly temper.

My vocabulary was still woefully limited but I could speak now, somewhat.

I was rather eager to begin eating solid food, albeit the awkwardness of the current situation was limited, and it did much to convince me that I had a loving mother, but still, eating was eating. I must say I am curious as to what real Japanese food tastes like.

**1 year later, 3 days after my second Birthday**

I have now been officially weaned, that is, I now eat only real food, such as rice and chicken.

Progress with my exercises has been woefully slow, but I have made sure to stretch to my fullest extent and beyond every day that I may grow up limber. I've also taken up sit-ups and jumping.

My world is still quite small as I have not yet ventured out into the wide expanse of green that is the outdoors without being held in someone's arms. Visitors have been very few, aside from my brother, mother, and father, only a few older looking men who came to do naught more than look at me.

My growth has been slow, but I expect that within two years my size will have at least doubled.

I have not yet discovered a mirror so all I know about myself is the size of my appendages and the color of my hair, which is dark, as opposed to my blonde hair in my previous life.

Father is a stern man if I were to describe him; his hair is a dark brown, slightly lighter than my own. His height is no taller than 5' 9" but he could be a couple inches shorter, my new size makes measurement difficult.

Mother is nice, a kind voice of unwavering support to my whole family.

Nii-san takes after father, but he is more proud, I get the impression that my Chichi was like him but then something happened that humbled him somewhat. In any case my brother's temper is shorter than fathers, although neither often gets angry in my presence.

My life was simple at this point, little more to do then explore the expansive house, exercise, eat and sleep.

The reason for my main disappointment was the lack of reading material I had discovered, not, I suppose that I could read it even if I did, which brings up an excellent point. Ask and you shall receive.

And so I found my mother.

"Haha, can you teach me to read?" I asked boldly.

She smiled, "Of course Nana-chan, let's go find a book I can teach you with."

I never was an expert on baby development, but if wanting to read at two is not normal, she was not the one to tell me. Perhaps they expected such things from their children? Or was nii-san a genius perhaps? Well, I am unconcerned.

Being taught to read a new language that I did not yet even speak wholly well was a daunting, if not exciting, task. Over the months that I learned to read I constantly dreaded writing these letters... I mean really, five strokes of a brush? However did the people here find the patience for it? Nevertheless literacy is important, if you can't read you can get cheated pretty easily.

**3 years and 1 month old**

"Nanashi, it is time to begin your training." My father said.

"In what?" Was my impudent reply.

"The shinobi way, an Uchiha who cannot fight is not an Uchiha at all." He replied without hesitation.

I forced myself to calm down, over three years I may have forgotten certain things, but, if someone mentions something I recognize I'll know it. So I was an Uchiha? That explained nii-sans and Chichi's dark eyes.

"Indeed." Was my short reply, I could not say anything more wordy. For what if the massacre was tonight, or even in the next few years? My will to live was stronger than ever, Itachi would not kill me.

I followed father to one of the Uchiha clan's training grounds. A wide open area with six, eight foot tall, wooden poles a couple hundred feet away.

"Attack me." He said simply.

I thought hard for a bit, and then I lay down in the short grass.

"Nanashi." He said warningly.

"Attack me." He ordered with a hint of anger, obviously he valued obedience. When I refused to answer he began calmly walking toward me.

I swallowed my palpable fear and waited till he was directly above me. Then as fast as my young muscles could I launched up from the ground, throwing a flimsy punch at the groin as I did so. Father easily caught my hand almost a foot before it should have impacted. Well... not unexpected.

I looked up wordlessly at my father's face, he smiled.

"Good. Continue." He said, not releasing my arm.

In less than a second I had my plan, as fast as I could I grabbed his hand with my much smaller one and swung my legs at his knee. Still perfectly balanced despite my full weight on his outstretched arm, he released my arm and shook me of, causing me to land awkwardly on my bottom.

I somersaulted backwards and then took my best rendition of a boxer stance. Then I opened my left fist and made the come here motion.

Faster than I could react he grabbed my arms, twisted them behind my back and sent me sprawling face first into the dirt.

"Ow." Was what I matter of factly said.

"You are weak." He said.

"I'm three, and you're what?" I asked, "A ninja." I answered for him.

"Indeed, you could not win from the very start."

"It was a test, winning isn't the goal." I respectfully retorted.

"The point was to show you your own weakness, tell me Nanashi, do you like losing?" He inquired seriously.

"No." I answered calmly.

"Good, I'll show you the scrolls you can access."

I silently nodded, mentally noting that I _really_ needed to read up on chakra.

I followed father into a small library that was, classically, hiding behind the tapestry.

"Until you can use Katon: Great Fireball, this will be the limit of your studies." He informed me, and then exited.

There was a large window on the far wall that provided light. There were several books and numerous scrolls in this room. I am surprised that father let me into the library so early, perhaps he knows of my like for reading?

Well, for now I needed something useful. I looked first at the books, _How to Train Fire Chakra, _ was useless for now. _Pre-academy Chakra _sounded basic enough, but let's keep looking. _Nin, Tai or Gen, How to know what to Focus on_ seemed somewhat over my head and also slightly like a 'if you're like this Genjutsu is all you'll ever excel in' type. _History of the Uchiha Clan_ sounded somewhat interesting for later perusal, the rest were history or more advanced material.

So _Pre-academy Chakra _it was.

_No one has ever truly discovered what chakra is, however for many years it has been understood, yet unproven, that chakra is made up of a person's physical energy, affected by their physical size and muscle mass. The other side of chakra is the spiritual side, affected by a person's strength of will_ _and mental prowess._

_Accessing chakra for the first time can be exhausting or completely harmless. Don't worry about it as unless it causes pain you probably don't have a problem. The first step is concentration,_ _to find something that you have only had described to you can be _difficult_. You'll want to find somewhere that doesn't have too many loud sounds for this._

Well, it was helpful I guess. I assumed my amateurish meditation pose and sought my energy. If Naruto fan fictions were to be believed I should try to feel deep down and then pull. But I had a different understanding, chakra was everywhere... it was energy within one's self, that could be directed and controlled with a mere thought. And so I gathered up my energy and then sent it down my arm and into my hand where it would be expelled. I wriggled my now slightly glowing fingers in absolute amazement, call it magic, call it chakra, but it was real!

The glow faded as I had stopped directing chakra to my hand, I now realized that my hand was slightly tingling, less severe than if it had fallen asleep, but still, interesting. I was marginally more tired now as well, but still I felt up for more. Once again I gathered up my chakra, then sent it down my other hand, telling _my _energy to keep running to my left hand I tested something.

To my intense disappointment my hand was no stronger than before. I looked at the book, remembered my spot and left the little library.

I stretched my arms out and then reached down and put my palms to the ground before kicking as high as I could. I was surprised to learn how much time had passed, as well as by the wonderful smell from the kitchen. Sukiyaki was truly a wonderful dish.

"Haha." I greeted my mother.

"Nii-san, Chichi."

"Otouto." My elder brother replied shortly.

"Nanashi, I trust you found something useful to read?"

"Hai." I answered, and then showed my new-found glowing hand off for inspection.

"Hn." Was his reply, well good to know you're an Uchiha for real huh?

My nii-san simply watched with interest as I stopped channeling my chakra.

After eating, my young body was read to rest and so I retreated to my crib, only to find it gone and in its place a futon. So, training begins and you get a bed, mat, whatever? I'm not complaining.

Bright and early my father woke me, watching as I went through my short wake-up stretches. When I finished he said "Come" and so I followed him out to the training grounds.

"As you know Nanashi, I am a busy man. As much as I regret not being able to personally teach you, I simply to do not have the time. As such, most of what you learn will be from reading and..." He gestured to a brown-haired Uchiha who had a three-tomoe sharingan spinning. The man was slightly taller than my father and had a respectably toned appearance.

"This is Uchiha Hiroshi; you will call him Hiroshi-sensei and do as he says." Fathers tone left no room for question.

I inclined my head very slightly, "Hiroshi-sensei, please take care of me."

"A pleasure to meet you, Nanashi-kun."

Chichi turned and succinctly left us alone.

I've never been much of a people person, keeping to my family in this life and the last.

Hiroshi waited until father had gone beyond Ninja hearing distance before turning to me in earnest.

"First we'll see just how capable you are." He then instructed me to do push-ups, followed by sit-ups.

"Good." His tone gave nothing away.

"I understand that you have already accessed your chakra, as such we'll begin with the Leaf Sticking Exercise. The goal is to stick a leaf to any location on your body." He walked a few hundred feet and procured a number of leaves before returning with the Shunshin.

"Too little and the leaves will fall off, too much and you'll either destroy them or blow them away."

The leaves had already been deposited on the ground in front of me. I picked one up, put it on my hand, and then channeled chakra to said hand. To my frustration when I turned my hand over the leaf fell right off.

Picking it back up I tried to tell my chakra to grab the leaf, with limited success. However it held, if only for a moment, I suppose there is a reason this is a control exercise.

"When you complete that exercise, come and let me know, I live two houses to the left of your own."

Well, the hands off training method works fine for me too. I spent hours before I could consistently hold a single leaf to my hand. I then moved my stiff body until I broke into a run going in circles in the short grass of the training ground.

Now the thing to do was, of course, to stick multiple leaves at once. Disappointingly I turned hungry long before I could complete this little challenge. I walked home rather sluggishly, my tiny body worn out from chakra depletion.

I eagerly ate the meal mother made for me, and though it was only afternoon I retired to bed.

Early in the morning I woke up, well rested from plentiful hours of sleep. One curious thing about Naruto-verse was the fact that fridges existed. I, however, did not complain since it gave us the ability to keep food relatively fresh for far longer than would otherwise be possible.

Snacking on what I could find, I began my morning exercise. After travelling twice to the training ground I was confident I could do it alone. And so I did.

Picking up the leaves where I had left off I again tried, this time focusing on the concept of adhesion I succeeded, in due time, in sticking two leaves to one hand, but not one leaf to each hand.

In a week I had sufficiently trained in the exercise to stick a leaf to my bare foot. I considered this enough to say I had completed the exercise, since the bottom of the foot is considered the hardest place to channel chakra.

I went to the house two houses to the left of my own.

I knocked twice, "Hiroshi-sensei, I'm done." I informed.

The light-brown haired Uchiha answered the door shortly, "Let's see it."

It was fortunate I had expected this and brought leaves. I removed my sandal and stuck a leaf to my foot, then held it up for inspection.

Hiroshi nodded, "I see you are done."

I looked at him expectantly.

"Put your sandal on; meet me at the same training ground we first met at." So saying he Shunshined into the distance.

"I need that jutsu." I said as I tied my sandal back on, running all the way to the training ground.

"Now we'll go through the Kata's for the interceptor style."

He took the first stance which I copied to the best of my ability. He walked over, correcting discrepancies in my stance. Doing the same we went over all the Kata's slowly once we had done each three times over Hiroshi looked at his watch.

"Lunch time, kid. Run along."

"You aren't eating with us?"

"Kid, I haven't eaten with anyone but myself for years."

"Then you should come, I'm sure mother won't mind."

He smiled, "Whatever kid, let's get going."

I smiled back as we walked together to my place; he was limiting his own speed in deference to me. I looked ruefully down at my tiny legs, willing them to grow with zero success.

"If you ever want to practice your Kata's but can't remember what they all are..."

"Yes?"

"You should be able to find the scroll for it in your little library." So either he knows about it some other way or father trusts him enough to tell him, not that anything sensitive is in there.

"Arigato." Was my brief reply.

**Three months later**

"Come." My sensei told me.

And so I did, with all the ferocity and cunning in my almost three and a half year old body. The interceptor style is really much weaker without the Sharingan, not that I could beat a full grown man with it in any case.

I had been sparring with Hiroshi-sensei for two months now and I am proud to be his student. Father has checked on my progress twice, making no negative comment so I can only assume approval.

My tolerance to pain has increased, not surprising, given that I go home with bruises every day. Today is the day I'll start reading _How to Train Fire Chakra _having already completed the somewhat thin _Pre-academy Chakra_.

I like to think that I've made good progress in my clan's taijutsu style but I know I have a very long way to go. Being humble is something I try to do every day.

I've found the ignorance of my current time frustrating, to say the least. Itachi hasn't been mentioned nor are we all dead yet, so I'll hope for the best.

Uninterestingly enough my dislike for tomatoes has carried over from my increasingly insignificant first life.

I suppressed a yell as I lunged at Hiroshi-sensei with my right hand, he deflected it with the back of his own and I quickly disengaged, knowing that a straight from his left hand was coming next.

As soon as he had committed to his counter I reengaged with a sweeping left kick that left me completely open. As was soon evidenced by the fact that he stuck his right leg under my kicking left and knocked me completely off balance.

I quickly did a backwards vault, kicking out with my legs to keep my opponent at bay. Hiroshi-sensei dived in after, plowing through my guard and smashing his shoulder against my chest.

I feel onto my rear rubbing, the spot that would no doubt turn dark with an angry bruise.

He offered his hand, I accepted and we began to go home for dinner.

"You still hold back a ridiculous amount." I informed him.

"If I didn't, you'd be dead."

"True" Was the only answer I could muster.

After eating with us Hiroshi-sensei left to his own place.

I brought my dirty plate to the kitchen along with my brother. As I handed him mine and he set both of ours in the sink I asked a question. It was hard to believe I didn't know this already.

"Nii-san, what's your given name?"

He raised his brow, "Fugaku, otouto, Fugaku."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Only one owns Naruto, and's he's Japanese, I'm American so guess what this disclaimer is saying.**

Chapter 2

I quickly formulated my reply, "Then I look forward to the day we spar, Fugaku-nii."

Nii-san simply smiled back at me, an anticipatory smirk.

By now Nii-san had finished setting our plates down. So I went to the little library that was my second home, too lost in thought to read.

If Nii-san was Fugaku then I had a while before Itachi was even born. Heck, the coup could be completely prevented by me, since Fugaku was the instigator.

I smiled, for now I'd focus on getting stronger, then when the 3rd Shinobi War broke out I wouldn't die right away. It should start sometime in the next eight to fifteen years.

Or maybe I'm screwed up; timelines in Naruto have never been my strong point. I mean seriously, for all I know the first shinobi war ended only a few years ago, but I doubt it.

Well, I can process this later but for now…

I picked _How to Train Fire Chakra_ off of the shelf and got comfortable.

_Training any kind of elemental chakra can be extremely dangerous and should not be attempted without sufficient chakra._

Well that's encouraging; if my knowledge is correct chakra pools are very limited before five or six years of age.

_Fire chakra has been called the most dangerous element to train with good reason. If you do not use proper care you risk incineration, burnt insides, or even literal heart burn._

And virtually every Uchiha does it, come on how hard can it be? Still it's best if I ask Chichi or Hiroshi-sensei before I actually attempt this.

_Fire Techniques often use the tiger hand seal._

Aha! I knew I was forgetting something: hand seals. They look like a real pain to remember; hopefully Hiroshi-sensei will teach me.

_Fire chakra is formulated in the belly by concentrating chakra and then releasing it as pure energy. A slight nudge is enough to change the element to fire if you have an affinity. _

Actually, that makes a lot of sense. Since fire is merely the expression of energy released in a chemical reaction; it isn't hard to think that if we say chakra is energy. In fact, producing fire chakra should be incredibly easy. Which I suppose is the danger; since it's so easy to make it it's also easy to make too much. Something like that should be how it is.

But that brings up the question, why isn't every ninja from here to Iwa spamming fire techniques?

Maybe fire chakra is a really affinity dependent element? Or are affinities so very important? It would be nice to think that with only slightly more trouble you can use a technique you have no original affinity for. But then, why do only geniuses like Kakashi and the Sandaime use jutsu like that?

That's why developing new affinities is a task that can take years; if you have no original talent, getting over the first hump of making even the tiniest amount of a new element can be close to impossible.

If that's the case, I hope I have two affinities. It's also really bad if I have no fire affinity at all, if I can't do Katon: Great Fireball I'm screwed. Reason being, the Uchiha use it as a coming of age deal, if I can't do it, I'm a kid until I can.

Well, I probably won't be using elemental jutsu until I'm five or so anyway, still, this is all rather intriguing.

_If you don't have an affinity, please buy my other book_ How to Develop a New Affinity.

Really man? Who even wrote this? Doesn't say, did Father get rid of the author page?

Anyway, this book has been interesting… wait I only read like eight sentences, all the rest came from my own mind. Ignoring that, I need to read up on hand seals and start practicing.

Luckily, there was a scroll in the room about the twelve common hand seals. It described things in a little _too_ much detail, but fortunately there were pictures.

After practicing hand seals for half an hour I felt somewhat exhausted, mentally. So I went to my bed and lied down.

Thinking while not being able to get to sleep is something I've done as long as I can remember, this time my thoughts were of family.

Could I really stop the massacre? The coup plot even? It didn't matter, I had to. I would.

I'd never even gotten past the chunin exams in cannon Naruto, all my other knowledge came from fan fictions and my sister. My real knowledge of the future was limited at best. In some ways that was good. I could tell myself I couldn't stop some things, it would be true, I know.

It's actually fortunate that I know virtually nothing about my brother from my previous life, prejudice is an awful thing.

I woke up the next day, feeling somewhat less anxious than ever before. I guess knowing that Itachi and Obito weren't going to kill us all anytime soon got a load off my chest.

After my morning routine I had breakfast, heading out immediately to the training ground after a brief goodbye to my mother.

Hiroshi-sensei was waiting for me there so I greeted him, "Good morning Hiroshi-sensei!" I called.

"Good morning Nanashi-kun."

"Today we'll learn some more advanced taijutsu moves of the interceptor style."

I resisted the urge to wail, it got even more complicated? There were already dozens of kata's to remember.

"This is more focused on being perceptive, whereas what you've been learning before now is all based on repetition."

"So, rather than a bunch of kata's to remember this is more like common kata's and how to counter them?"

"Mostly, other than the basic academy style that almost every country teaches there are hundreds of taijutsu styles. So this is more on countering common moves and then not getting blindsided by a strange style."

I see, so that's how it is hundreds of moves out there; it really is a dangerous world.

"Now Nanashi-kun, what must we always remember?"

"What you can achieve is based on speed; its effectiveness is based on strength." I answered without hesitation.

"Exactly, now, why do the Uchiha focus somewhat more on speed?"

"To take full advantage of the Sharingan."

"Good, let's begin."

Hiroshi-sensei is a really good teacher and someone I admire, he also is very flexible. If I have a hard time on something we focus in on that, if something is easy we spend only token time on it.

After practicing sparring and being lectured for hours I finally asked the question.

"When am I going to learn jutsu, or even hand seals?" I'll be the first to admit that making a tsunami out of a puddle or a fireball is very cool; I'm also intrigued by the concept of genjutsu.

"Jutsu will wait until you actually have enough chakra, hand seals… well you wouldn't be asking if you hadn't already looked it up."

"Yes." Hiroshi-sensei knows me so well, it's quite refreshing. But for now I'm very hungry so I continued, "Let's go eat."

He smiled, "Yes, lets."

**Four Months later**

As I grow older time seems to go both far faster, and at the same time, a snail's pace. I can now do twenty-nine push-ups so I feel alright about that. My Taijutsu lessons have come along nicely; however I find quickly switching between hand seals extremely disconcerting.

Hiroshi-sensei eats with us every day now; and Father has expressed his approval of my progress, mildly.

Chakra lessons are non-existent at this point, being put on hold until I actually have enough to do anything with it. I have not read anymore in _How to Train Fire Chakra _my conclusions satisfying my present curiosity.

During the meal I asked, "Nii-san, how is your progress?"

"The academy is boring, but necessary; the material is useless other than the history and civilian studies."

What he actually meant is probably more like, "Those stupid instructors are dumbing things down too much."

But on another note this is really interesting, Fugaku likes math? Or even history? Don't all kids hate this stuff? Admittedly, at his age in my past life math was my favorite subject with English being my least liked.

I wonder, do they teach grammar in the academy? Seems like a waste of time for a profession that has an average life span of twenty-five or so.

Which brings up another question that's been plaguing me; are you smarter if you have more chakra? Or in other words: "Will a Sannin always be smarter than a civilian?" it seems so.

Intellectual questions aside, life in a Ninja Clan is interesting. My family is suitably rich though we live a relatively simple life. As may have been obvious if I looked closer sooner, my father is clan head.

This brings up a good point as to why I am being nurtured to such a degree; I am the back-up clan heir. Father is not above thinking that Nii-san could die in the line of duty, many do.

Turning my attention to my father I asked, "Chichi, how strong are you?"

"Strong enough, Nanashi, strong enough."

"That's good. Just remember not to die out there." I replied seriously.

"Cheeky brat, we go easy on you because you're young, but maybe I should show you why I'm a jonin." He retorted good naturedly. I truly value these moments, they are precious to me.

"Please take care of me."

Before he could even begin to answer I cut in, "But you already do, Father, you already do."

"Hn." He grunted back.

"Mother, thank you for the meal." Fugaku-nii and I said simultaneously as we got up and brought our plates to the sink. I wonder, are dishwashers not a thing here? Naruto technology is confusing that way.

After finishing the little ritual, I went with Hiroshi-sensei back to the training grounds.

He rapidly gathered up some leaves and came back.

"For the rest of our training time take off your shirt and clothe your upper body with these leaves, if you begin to feel exhausted, stop and let me know." Well, chakra exhaustion is the bane of ninja everywhere, putting them out of action for almost a week, and if it's really severe, a month.

I only succeeded in covering my frontal abs with leaves before I stopped for the reason given. However, Hiroshi-sensei didn't seem too disappointed.

I went to bed, or futon I guess, almost immediately after supper. The beds here are actually more comfortable than one might expect.

Tomorrow I'll start reading _History of The Uchiha Clan _hopefully I can gain some insight into the period before hidden villages.

**Two Weeks Later **

The book, though frustratingly difficult to put in chronological order went back almost as far as I had hoped. Unfortunately, it gave little more insight than a family tree.

Apparently I was descended from one of Madara's cousins. Officially, Madara had no wife and no children, but I wonder. I guess in the grand scheme of things it's insignificant.

The rivalry between the Uchiha and Senju clans was very real, to the extent that if one saw the other they'd draw swords without warning. Neither side was above using whatever tricks and acts of terrorism to win.

It was a rude awakening; the life of a shinobi was truly a jaded one. Unfortunately I couldn't find the reason for the conflict, beyond the Rikudo Sennin's eldest son's jealousy.

**Two Months Later**

I'm only a couple weeks from four years old now, training has been taken up a notch; with fractured bones occurring every once in a while.

Fugaku hasn't brought a girlfriend over yet, so I'm guessing he's the sort to marry late. Hiroshi-sensei confided to me that he has no close family, the Clan and Konoha being all he had.

I'm not the patient sort, so I hope my chakra expands early, as previously mentioned, jutsu are cool. But, more morbidly, they can easily end a life; indeed, many were invented with that purpose.

I stand by this philosophy, "Whatever power can be used for good can be used for evil, and vice versa." But what is good? In this life what is evil? A stupid question, I have a conscience after all.

Today is the day of my first spar with Nii-san; hopefully he'll go easy on me. As I finished tying on my sandals, I wondered just how strong he was.

Father, Mother, Hiroshi-sensei and Fugaku were already present. Thirty feet in front of Father we faced each other, a short five meters apart.

Father eyed us both and then, almost too fast for my eyes to follow, jumped forward and raised his arm, "Hajime!" he called.

My stance already taken, I let Fugaku-nii make the first move, his much larger body covering the distance quickly. He began with a standard punch that I easily ducked under, my small size being advantageous.

I countered with my left leg, shifting my right into an adaptable position. Unfortunately this resulted in my kick being too slow to actually connect, Nii-san turning away as my leg swept past, he leaped at me before the movement of my leg stopped, forcing me either to block or perform a backwards leap kick. I chose the latter.

Landing imperfectly after my stunt I was surprised to feel a shooting pain in my back. I stumbled forward; I should have seen that coming. I turned around before Fugaku could follow up lashing out with my right arm. To my dismay my arm was too short and Nii-san easily deflected it. My left fist already in motion I jumped back to avoid the pain that would follow if I continued.

Nii-san attacked quickly with a tackle I was to slow to avoid, to weak and light I quickly succumbed and fell down, trying to use my legs to throw him off. He was too skilled to allow it and held, knowing struggling was useless, I gave up.

"I give up, Nii-san wins." The fight had been decided too quickly; but facts were facts.

"Good job, Fugaku." Father praised, I agreed, he won in less than seven moves.

"I enjoyed it." I told my brother.

"You'll improve." He answered with a small smile.

"And so shall you, I look forward to it."

"Very good, let's return." Father interrupted.

Nii-san and I both nodded and followed chichi back to the house.

"How did I do Hiroshi-sensei?" I asked on the way.

"You did well; however, there is much room for improvement."

"I agree; I look forward to prospering under your tutelage."

"That's good then." He allowed himself a small grin as I did the same.

**One Year Later**

My chakra has expanded; and, now that I've adjusted, Father will teach me the fireball technique. I look forward to using my very first elemental jutsu.

"Nanashi, I understand you've already gone over basic fire training with Hiroshi-san."

"Yes, Father." While at home Father was a friendly man, in the field he was nothing but professional. And he expected no less from me.

He then went through the hand seals, Snake, Tiger, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger, and brought his fingers to his lips, making a ring with his forefinger and thumb. He then spat out a large fireball that obliterated two of the dummies and left most of the others singed.

"I assume you saw the hand seals. This technique is rather simple, just imagine your chakra as fire then blow it out at a constant rate, or, launch it all at once like I did."

"As with all elemental techniques, use great care, you can obliterate your own self from the inside if you mess up." He also should mention that this doesn't happen to people usually unless they're trying to make a variation of the jutsu. Nevertheless, I don't want any burns so I'll be carefull.

"Remember to coat your throat with chakra so that the technique doesn't go out of place or burn your esophagus." Ah yes, careless youngsters are the number one cause of death.

"Yes, Father." Snake, Tiger, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger…blow.

A wave of warm air blew from my puckered lips. Although expecting it to work on the first try was a little wishful.

"Good, use more chakra. This technique will take almost all you have." Well, being complimented on such a failure is surprising.

I spent too much of my chakra trying to figure the thing out; so we had to go inside for the day.

Concentrating chakra in the belly… and then expelling it as energy turned into fire. But what if I neglected to change it to fire? A weaker technique, if we use Rasenshuriken as an example.

I wonder what would happen if I converted the chakra for the Great Fireball to say… lightning instead. Best I don't try until I can ask someone who's done it about trying such things.

Here's a cool thought, if Tobirama can take humidity and make it into water techniques, can I use regular fire to do my bidding? I don't think so, water works differently from fire, whereas with fire you can make it out of your own chakra(energy) with water you need an actual source of physical water.

Which is why chakra is considered an energy, it can to made to combust rather easily; but, with something like water all it can do is shape preexisting water sources.

So if I had to say, lightning and fire chakra are the easiest to create but water, wind, and earth need physical manifestations to shape. Fortunately for users of the two latter, air and dirt is almost everywhere.

If I'm right… nothing major, but, I'll have a greater understanding of elemental techniques, which is never bad. I went through the hand seals a couple times and then made my way to supper. Sukiyaki, mom is so nice.

I noted with slight surprise that Fugaku had a fore-head protecter.

"How long has Nii-san been a genin?" I asked my older brother.

"A couple days." He answered.

"Why didn't you tell me, I'd have prepared something for you by now."

"Which is precisely why I didn't." Ohh, how thoughtful of you Nii-san.

"Hn." I said with a nod.

"Itadakimasu!" I picked up my chopsticks and began eating. I'm tall enough now to put my plate in the sink on my own but I still let Fugaku do it for me. Being young has some perks.

The next day Father and I went out to the training ground, I noted with interest that the poles had been replaced. I suppose some Uchiha have the less than glorious job of replacing those.

"Watch once more." Father instructed, he launched the fireball again.

I carefully watched his every move but was unable to determine what my own failing was.

Perhaps if it didn't change the nature of the chakra to fire before I expelled it? I puffed my cheeks, layering them with protective chakra, as I brought the chakra up through my throat I compressed it, and then changed it to an inferno, before quickly launching whatever heat ball I had produced.

I didn't risk putting my fingers up, merely haphazardly spitting my very first fireball. It impacted a few feet away, causing me to grin at the destruction.

Father looked on, impossibly hard to read.

"It was small imperfect and un-aimed, but with practice you will succeed. You seem alright to go again, try once more."

I repeated the technique, rearing back before blowing this time; I then expelled a less wild version of the technique. Aiming through my fingers this time, I shot the fireball at the poles that acted as dummies, incinerating one.

It should be mentioned that masters of this technique cut down on the hand seals and forego the rather elementary aiming through the finger ring.

"It is better if we don't push things, tomorrow we'll go over this again. After that, you'll find your library has more useful and advanced scrolls and books."

"Thank you very much, Father."

"It's no trouble; as long as you are competent I'm more than happy to pass on my knowledge."

Interesting he calls it 'passing on his knowledge' not 'teaching me' it contains subtle connotations. Or am I overthinking?

Well, today has been quite good, learning my first jutsu and all.

Other than that, it seems that we have plenty of time before lunch, good thing I brought my kunai.

These kunai were a gift from Hiroshi-sensei for my fourth birthday, so I've owned them for close to a year. However - I take good care of them - they are still plenty sharp.

Much to my consternation the Second Shinobi World War ended a short few months ago. My timeline for Naruto was never set in stone but this is surprising. Fortunately this means that I won't be going to the battle front any time soon.

Curiously enough a familiar name popped up recently.

The White Fang of Konoha: Hatake Sakumo. He's a young and talented man at this point; still growing in power, but strong enough that enemies below jonin shake in fear.

I threw my kunai from forty-five feet, none of them totally missing but quite a few just grazed the pole. Father gave a few words about my throwing stance before leaving to go work. He is a truly busy man, what with being the head of Konoha's military police force.

The Uchiha Police, as they were commonly referred to, had duties ranging from settling violent disputes between shinobi, keeping crowds at bay during major events, and even hunting missing nin. While the ANBU took up the responsibility of hunting anyone A-rank or higher, the Uchiha brought in lower ranking missing nin.

On a related note, Konoha's desertion rate was the lowest of the five great hidden villages.

Lunch time rolled around in due time, picking up my kunai once again I brought them all with me as I returned. Washing myself quickly so that I would look respectable for the meal I sat down in seiza at the Japanese table.

Mother once again cooked an excellent meal, but a meal is boring without conversation.

"Nii-san; who is your jonin-sensei?"

"Hisakawa Akiyoshi."

Nobody I knew then.

"Are your teammates any good?"

"They are academy graduates."

In other words, civilians with no extra-curricular skills.

Well, I hope Nii-san does really well. It's good to have strong family.

After practicing the Great Fireball technique with Father the next day; I made my way to the library. The amount of scrolls had increased almost ten-fold and the number of books had also grown.

Man, clan children had seriously two legs up on everyone else, eh? The first to find would of course be the 'academy three' the bunshin actually may have been the most useful of them, despite popular belief.

Still, we'll start with the henge; it being the easiest, probably. I rummaged through the scrolls until I found the one I sought, opening it and placing a paperweight so that it would not roll back up.

Well, there is a reason students take months to learn these, was my first thought.

The henge worked by putting a layer of chakra over oneself and then giving it color through imagination. Hence the reason it was hard to transform into things smaller than oneself.

If you put in more chakra the technique become both more solid, withstanding even punches, and more chakra intensive causing little ones to faint. This explains why academy students, sans Naruto, would have their transformation broken by naught more than a finger flick.

The main things with henge are 1: chakra cost, 2: imagination, and 3: solidity. Overall while it could be really useful it was simply impracticable in so many situations.

Or am I wrong; is it just as simple as the scroll says? A slightly chakra high chakra cost and constant mental concentration? It seems too easy, Dog, Boar, Ram, and "Henge!"

I focused on the appearance of Fugaku and in a puff of smoke there I stood, now as Fugaku. I immediately began noticing discrepancies, so this is the real challenge. Its great training, as ninja who want to succeed in this technique will inevitably become more observant.

Well, if that's how it is then I am up to the challenge.

I studied one of my kunai carefully and then henged into it. From my position as a kunai I looked at the basis for my appearance, regrettably, I could not see all of myself.

As I attempted to look closer the henge broke, so that's how it is, henge really does need some serious focus, I'll practice it by transforming into Nii-san as I read in here.

To say that Fugaku was uncomfortable under my scrutinizing gaze the next day would be an understatement of grave proportions. Finally he broke and asked me in ill-concealed anger.

"Is there something wrong with me?"

"No, I'm just studying for the henge."

"Oh."

I am surprised he accepted that explanation so easily. Could it be that Nii-san also did this to someone? How unexpected.

"Was it a girl?" I asked with a smile.

"What?" He looked up from the scroll he was reading in honest bewilderment.

"The one you studied for the henge, was it a girl?"

"He…ck no." Wow, refraining from using bad words in front of me, I'm proud of you Nii-san.

"You do realize you just put the start of one bad word with the end of another don't you?"

"Stop teasing me, Nanashi!"

"Aww, little Fugaku has a temper problem." I said in the little kiddy voice with a pitying face.

"Ugh, fine I do." He muttered, annoyed.

I gave him a thumbs-up, "You're learning Nii-san!" and ran off.

To explain, what he is learning is that the best way to deal with teasing is to agree with it. For example if someone says, "You're an idiot." If you say "Am not!" really angrily you'll get nowhere, but if you say "I really am." They'll most often leave it at that.

Teasing Nii-san aside, I'm going to get the henge down before moving on to the bunshin.

Supper was a quiet affair, with me looking at everything studiously, eager to henge into anything I wanted to without fail. Fugaku merely said, "You'll get bored eventually."

It was somewhat true, but with something like looking like anything I wanted to in front of me I just couldn't pass it up.

I went to bed that night with a wandering mind. Never settling on anything in particular before I drifted to sleep.

**One Month Later**

I'm five and the Great Fireball is easy now, if somewhat slow and small. The henge has been coming along well, with every day seeing a reduction in errors and greater ease in maintaining the technique. I'm glad I'm an Uchiha, blessed with the gift of more than average reserves and, more importantly, the sharingan.

Fugaku-nii unlocked his only a week ago, so I am understandably eager to have my own.

Hiroshi-sensei has been drilling me to the ground in chakra control, well, as far as the leaf sticking exercise and the leaf burning exercise can go. We make sure to go over the kata's for the interceptor style every day, as well as kunai throwing.

"Henge!" This time I transformed into Nii-sans forehead protector after hiding his real one, today would be interesting.

As soon as Fugaku picked me up I started having second thoughts, when he tied the knot behind his head it would apply a great deal of pressure.

Nevertheless, I did not give up, focusing on only the fact that I was a head-band! At length I stopped concentrating as if my life depended on it at, careful to maintain my form.

I looked around from my perch on my brother's head and saw a brown-haired man who wore a flak jacket. He must be Nii-san's jonin-sensei.

On a separate note, while this use of the henge is unorthodox it is not impossible. The idea coming from Sasuke throwing Naruto in windmill shuriken - or whatever they're called – form.

So if Naruto can be thrown like a shuriken, why can't I be tied onto someone's forehead? No reason; that is the conclusion that I reached.

Fugaku's teammates were a meek looking girl with dark hair and grey eyes, and a boy who carried himself with all the confidence of a genin who had not seen death. The boy was freckled with light skin and long light-brown hair and dark eyes.

"Let's go get a mission kids." While the girl just nodded both of the young males looked up in slight offence, obviously offended at being called "kids."

Looking back I don't know if this was such a good idea, watching genin do D-ranks seems kind of boring. Perhaps thinking I could maintain the concentration needed for the henge all day was a bit ambitious.

It turns out that the mission for today is… pulling weeds. I guess D-ranks didn't change much from now till canon huh?

I've always known that Hatake Kakashi was an awful sensei but now the point is driven home. Of course he _did _have _the most_ dysfunctional team ever. What brought this up is that after the D-rank we all went, and team Akiyoshi, as I heard one of them call the jonin, began the tree climbing exercise.

Naturally I filed away all the useful tips for later reference. But as Nii-san ran up the tree repeatedly I began to feel hungry. I had eaten a very large dinner the night before, and not neglected to snack before Fugaku woke up, but I was not used to having an empty stomach.

My stomach rumbled strangely audible to the outside world causing everyone to look at Fugaku. It seemed they all thought it was him but I knew he was far too intelligent to be fooled. My elder brother narrowed his eyes and, because he was actually hungry, let them lead him off to a restaurant.

As their orders arrived I could almost see the smirk on Fugaku's face, had he figured it out? Or was my stressed mind deluding itself.

As Nii-san slurped his noodles I could no longer bear it, my mind rebelling against the torment. And so against my rational thought the henge broke and I fell straight into Nii-sans yakisoba noodles.

I laughed awkwardly as I felt the juices begin to soak my pants.

The girl was the first to speak, "Uchiha-san's forehead protector is a little boy?" She asked with great innocence.

"Actually," I stood up on the table with a grand flourish, "I was spying on Nii-san while practicing my henge." My best imperious voice and face were plastered on, chin raised slightly.

Unfortunately the image was ruined by my dripping pants and all of them began to laugh. I joined in as well, recognizing how hilarious that probably was.

When the laughing died down Fugaku was the first to address me, "How are you going to pay for my lunch, otouto?" The question gave me pause, before I thought of a witty answer.

"It's not like it's ruined, my pants were perfectly clean. See, you can lick right off." I informed, turning my rear to him.

Despite himself Fugaku smiled, but still tried his best at a scowl. Akiyoshi grinned widely and the boy stared in disbelief while the girl began to blush slightly.

"I'll let you off this once, idiot." Fugaku said, "Now stop being impolite and introduce yourself."

"Of course," I back-flipped off the table, "I am Fugaku's younger brother, Uchiha Nanashi, pleased to meet you."

"Hisakawa Akiyoshi; pleased to meet you Nanashi-kun." How familiar, but with me as a kid and two Uchiha here it's only natural.

"I am Sugimoto Kazue, nice to meet you Uchiha-san." That was the girl.

"Tokuda Sadao." The boy said; such a reliable name. Sadao means 'decisive man'.

"If it's all the same to all of you I'll cut this short and run home to change."

"That's fine Nanashi-kun." Hisakawa-sensei spoke for the group.

I bowed out and tossed my brother his real headband. Saying no more, I left for home.

Well, I have to say that went amazingly well, and even Fugaku took it rather amiably.

I changed into a clean set of clothes and went over to Hiroshi-sensei's place.

"The henge broke when they went for lunch," Was the first thing out of my mouth after I had politely greeted the Uchiha male.

"I see; you lasted a while then." I had let Hiroshi-sensei know of my plot, knowing that without him it would fall flat on its face. Reason being: Hiroshi and I meet every day, if I didn't show up without telling him – or Nii-san, Mother, or Father -my whole family would be causing an uproar in Konoha, Sharingan and back-up heir and all that.

"Thank you for the kind words."

"Well Nanashi-kun lets go out and get some training in, yeah?" It was now that I remembered my distinct lack of lunch, fortunately my stomach did not rumble.

"Yes." I said with a smile, while my body rebelled; my spirit was strong, if I could exercise while hungry for hours, I could fight without food for a good while. In theory.

After throwing all my kunai I surprise attacked Hiroshi-sensei. This is how our spars began; everyday one of us would attack the other without warning.

Sensei swatted away my initial right hook easily, almost missing my left leg. He jumped back and took a stance, waiting for me to make a mistake. I took my own stance and we began to circle each other, I twitched my right leg as if to attack and Hiroshi-sensei took the bait.

I jumped aside as he punched straight at my previous position, back kicking as he went past. Unfortunately he spun around with his own spin kick, his superior speed and reach outmatching me.

I somersaulted backwards as his kick connected, my chest bruised from the force. Not resting and assaulted my teacher in a furry of blow counters and blocks. I landed some hits on his legs and he on my upper body, the logical result of the difference in size.

I disengaged after a particularly fierce set of blows and then quickly jumped high with a flying kick. On second thought a flying kick was a poor decision, as evidenced by its complete failure. Hiroshi merely ducked under it and swatted by back with his hand as I flew past.

The extra force threw off my landing off and I stumbled, my sensei took advantage of my floundering and placed me in the dirt with only token resistance.

I looked up and groaned, "I still have a long way to go."

"Yes you do." He offered his hand.

I took it in my own and stood up, brushing off the dust.

"Let's go through the kata's now."

"Ok, sensei." We went through the kata's for the interceptor fist slowly at first, speeding up each time we repeated until we were going at combat speed.

We went to my place after this, to get clean for dinner.

"I hope you aren't mad about my little stunt." I addressed Fugaku.

"It's fine, but if you pull that again I'll beat you into the ground."

I smiled, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"You're a strange one otouto; what kind of response is that?"

"An honest one, I've always valued honesty." It's true, I have.

"We're a family of fighters, liars, and killers, Nanashi."

"That doesn't mean we have to fight, lie, and kill each other and to each other."

"I suppose so Nanashi."

"How did Father's day go?" I asked said man.

"Nothing overly eventful, but what stunt were you two talking about?"

"Ah, I impersonated Nii-sans forehead protector."

"He also fell into my lunch." I mock glared at Nii-san for mentioning that.

"An interesting use of the henge, to be sure."

"I agree, I wanted to use the experience for practice but I failed to succeed."

"You did alright; after all being tied behind your brother's forehead must have been painful."

I beamed; Father was truly a knowledgeable ninja to think of such things, "It was, your compliments are to kind."

He smiled back but then turned serious, "And what then of your training with Hiroshi-san?"

"After I was discovered I immediately went to his house and requested that we train." I answered promptly.

Hiroshi nodded to Father's inquiring look and then turned to me, "That's alright then; everyone needs a break once in a while though, so tomorrow no training. Go to the playground and meet others your age, or if you prefer, visit other families within the clan who have children."

"Your offer is most kind; I will be at the playground after breakfast." Honestly I really needed a break; a day of rest after all this work would be nice.

I saw Father cast a glance at Hiroshi who gave a slight nod back, so, I was going to have an unofficial bodyguard? Never could be too cautious I suppose.

I cleared my plate and then took it to the sink handing it to Fugaku, or rather trying.

"Lazy Nanashi, you can do it yourself."

I grinned joyously back at him, this was his way of saying, "You're a big boy now."

I placed my plate in the sink and ran off to my room, putting all I had into my evening push-ups.

The following morning I ate, grabbed the lunch Mother had boxed for me and left. While Konoha was large it wasn't as if you couldn't find out where you wanted to go. The people were generally very friendly and were especially nice to little children. So I asked a citizen the way to the park and he cheerfully pointed in the right direction.

Konoha's public park is a large place, with plenty of opportunities and locations for children to play. By far the most frequented, however, is the playground. Where mothers and sometimes fathers brought their children to spend pent up energy.

I walked up and decided that whatever game these children were playing was not as good as it could have been. Well, maybe that was arrogance but I wasn't interested so I took a ball that was lying around and yelled, "If you want to play something actually fun come here!"

The ignorant children failed to notice the veiled insult and most came to me. I began to explain to them the rules of soccer and then chose a team leader for the other side.

I should mention that I don't really know all the rules of soccer, not that it would have mattered. Children don't care for the complexities of rule books and would have quickly lost interest.

I had the other kid, an older looking boy, pick first.

If there is one thing that can be said about little tots it's, "They're all brats."

The amount of delay we suffered because of children whining that they didn't kick picked was frustrating, to say the least; however, at length, the game began.

I'm not much for going easy on little selfish kiddies like these but it's no good if I just plow through them with shinobi skills. So I limited myself to a rather talented, but certainly not trained-for-two-years, level.

The game ended with my team having two more points than the opponents, I smiled.

I looked around at the playground after the game and saw what I sought, monkey bars.

I had always liked them, at first seeing them as a daunting challenge before looking at them as a way to prove myself. They're also quite useful for chin-ups.

And so I spent the rest of the day; on the monkey bars, going down the slide for nostalgia, and people watching. It was fun seeing how other kids behaved, and their parents' reactions and interactions.

So when the sun was lowering I left, going home in high spirits.

**Authors Note: So with this we clear 10k total words, yay.**

**Thanks to my first reviewer juste leave me alone for being my first, and so far, only reviewer.**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter, suggestions, critics, comments, and almost everything is welcome.**

**Next time we should be delving more into… I don't know what yet. **

**Hopefully my attempts and humor go appreciated.**

**Many thanks for considering this story**

**-Iamwhononofyouare**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and you're all glad I don't, cuz if I did I would sell it to the highest bidder for some quick cash… or maybe not, anyway, on with the story.**

**Chapter Three,**

After yesterday's fun at the park I figured I needed to move on to the bunshin.

It's actually amazingly easy to create a clone of yourself that takes no physical space, in other words, an illusion.

Unfortunately, getting your clones to move around is a much harder and more subtle task. So, while I could make a clone that would just stand there, I couldn't get it to run around.

So I trained my chakra control for a week of afternoons after training.

Wordlessly I went through the hand seals and made two copies of myself; they both looked at each other and grinned. Then I had a thought, I could use the clones as a powerful training tool! By making a clone go through the kata's for taijutsu I could correct my own mistakes. While Hiroshi-sensei's corrections are always easy to understand and very helpful; nothing was quite like seeing for yourself your own weaknesses.

By using a combination of Sensei's instructions and my own bunshin training I could become better faster.

Truly, the bunshin was a technique far better than most gave it credit for. Of course, the main weaknesses of the technique were that all it was good for in battle was confusing your enemy, but, none that I have heard of have used it like this.

I dispelled both clones and went outside, there making a single new clone I had it go through the kata's, directing every movement as I would myself. Predictably, beyond correcting a few minor errors, I was unable to see anything wrong with my stance.

I needed to know more about the style myself or whatever I saw would look right to me, since I was the one practicing. This called for a visit to my library.

On my way I thought more about the bunshin, it was truly a curious technique. It created no shadow but it could be seen, now light is how we see things, and how shadows are made. So why are the eyes fooled while the light itself is not? It makes absolutely no sense; theoretically the bunshin should just be a refraction of light but that would create some kind of shadow, wouldn't it?

I made a bunshin to be sure, carefully examining the ground around it. True to form there was nothing; well that does it, chakra doesn't make sense.

I guess that's why it's supernatural, I could spend life-times trying to figure it out; it truly is a whole science of its own. And while I've always liked discussions about impossible things, like say, time travel, I've also always been too lazy to seriously pursue them.

While we're on the subject, since chakra is beyond current comprehension and so is time travel – we know that space-time jutsu exist – could it be possible? While I'd read fan-fictions about it I'd always passed it off as a cool idea, feasible maybe, but not really possible.

But if instantly teleporting to somewhere half-way around the world is possible and summoning the dead with physical bodies is possible, why not? Well, learning more about chakra takes precedence.

Before that though, I need to read up on the interceptor style.

I soon found that the scroll was of small help, its pictures and instructions worthless when compared to private tutoring. Nevertheless, I found a couple of extra notes and moves that could be used.

I go to thinking; it would really be helpful if I knew a second taijutsu style. Unfortunately Gai isn't even born yet, let alone screaming about youth. If he was I could merely compliment his 'youthfulness' and get some training in the strong fist or whatever it's going to be called.

So we'll put that on hold until I graduate, since I'm assuming Father will put me in the academy.

For now we'll focus in on the bunshin and thinking about chakra, I don't want to read any more on it just yet. A biased opinion would be formed if I did.

And so I created five clones, looking over each I found that… I found nothing wrong, they looked exactly like me. I had read in one Naruto story about Naruto using the bunshin to make five clones, using complex maneuvers and weaving in and out of his clones to cause confusion in the opponent, it sounded useful if it worked as well as it did in the story.

The next day I asked permission to try something out on Hiroshi during our spar, he agreed once I assured him that it was not dangerous to either of us.

I tried out the idea with limited success, but I was not disheartened; if a, presumably, jonin like him had slight trouble with it then it would do fine on genin, it was an E-rank jutsu after-all.

So the rest of that day I practiced the bunshin, how to create more, how to control it better, and better misdirection in bunshin taijutsu, as I had taken to calling it.

I did the same the next afternoon, and for another two after that, before I felt satisfied.

Recently my thoughts have turned to genjutsu, incapacitating an enemy with small effort seems rather powerful. Of course, genjutsu users have some serious weaknesses; for one, doujutsu can see through them almost every time.

Number two, they spend so much time learning to make a better illusion that their ninjutsu is usually seriously weak. Exception being Uchiha Itachi, the guy was good at everything; well, I never encountered him in the cannon storyline so it's all hearsay. He's popular, so it's not unlikely that his abilities were slightly exaggerated. Of course, now that I think about it, he _was _weak at fuinjutsu, but that's not really an art that Uchiha pursue.

The Sharingan doesn't give one much advantage in seal making.

But this is one big sidetrack; plenty of people are seriously weak to genjutsu, falling for it almost every time. Of course, once recognized, low rankers are incredibly simple to dispel.

Still, the Sharingan gives numerous advantages in genjutsu countering and producing, it's only natural if I know something about it.

So I found a book, _Basic Genjutsu _by name, and picked it up.

_It should be first noted that basic genjutsu, that is E-C rank, uses the opponent's imagination against them, whereas projecting your own custom version of reality is a high rank skill._

Well, that's helpful, no sarcasm here. Basically, low rank genjutsu is mostly giving substance to a person's thoughts and inner horrors, you're basically saying to their mind 'think of this' and then solidifying that imagination with chakra, somewhat similar to the bunshin actually.

On second thought, it's not really similar to the bunshin.

_Genjutsu requires some method of getting your own chakra into your opponent's brain; this is commonly done with eye-to-eye genjutsu. By sending chakra into someone's brain through the eyes you're able to quickly launch your illusion, due to the proximity and intense relationship between sight and the brain._

_It's not really necessary to have eye contact, but it is by far the easiest, primarily because humans want to look at eyes, this is the same reason that full-face masks are slightly disconcerting._

So, if someone is looking at my fingers and I know it, I can launch the genjutsu from said fingers? Intriguing.

_All that's really needed is to get your chakra into the brain; this can be done with any of the senses._

So I can put someone out with a genjutsu if I grab their head? Nice.

_Once you've infiltrated the enemy in this fashion, you can control your chakra to stimulate their imagination. This requires knowledge of the brain._

I see, if I don't know what I'm doing I could just enhance their eyesight, no doubt this is the one of the main reasons for genjutsu failure. Now, while I could just do it in a general fashion, its best if I know the layout of the brain. That way I can make new and unique uses of chakra in the brain.

I doubt my little library has anything on the subject so I'll go to the public library.

I informed Mother where I was headed, and why, and left.

I asked the librarian where I could find information on brains and she directed me to the section.

What I really needed was a labelled diagram that had descriptions that told me what exactly each part of the brain controlled. Fortunately, I found a book that had this.

I had brought some paper and ink for this express purpose, I copied all I needed to know quickly, I put the book carefully back on the shelf, and left immediately so that I would be in time for dinner, bowing politely to the librarian as I exited.

I finally took the time to look over my poorly drawn diagram, it was enough though.

With this, I was well on my way to learning genjutsu.

After dinner I retreated to my library, to read more on genjutsu.

_It's best to start with something simple, so I've put a couple of simple E-rank genjutsu below, please get a willing partner for this._

For practice it probably is best if they're ready for it I suppose.

_Color Distortion Technique _

_This is as it sounds; by manipulating the other person's nervous system, you can make them see everything slightly tinted or outright all one color._

_An example of this is making the subject view everything green. _

_This is an easily seen through genjutsu primarily used for training._

It then listed directions and limitations of the technique. Since it was eye-to-eye you had to be fairly close to use it.

_Tickling Technique_

_This won't work on someone who has never been amused or isn't ticklish so it has some limitations._

_You'll to need touch the subject's belly or forehead for this one so it's quite difficult to use in combat._

_It works by making the subject remember the most amusing thing that has occurred to them, often resulting in making them falling over laughing. Alternatively you can use it to make them feel tickled, of course, some aren't ticklish, which is why this is another reason it is E-rank._

This one sounded quite… hilarious. But having to touch the foe for it to work is a huge issue, perhaps for the memory stimulating use you can go eye-to-eye? Sounds feasible.

This one did seem more useful than the last though. I'd ask Hiroshi if I could use him as my subject tomorrow.

What the book didn't mention was that touch genjutsu tingle like mad without good control, tipping the enemy off. Of course, Hiroshi still let me use it on him but he did inform me of this.

Taking this into account it should be no surprise that I prefer the more subtle eye-to-eye genjutsu.

Hiroshi-sensei cut his finger and showed it to me before making me see the whole world blood red, very disconcerting. I realized something then though, the effect was stronger if they had seen or considered the situation more recently.

Hiroshi-sensei then guided me through countering genjutsu and dispelling them, culminating in my successful dispersion of his Color Distortion.

Overall, it was a fun and informative day. It also taught me the importance of having better chakra control, so I began inventing new ways to use leaves for chakra control. It wouldn't do for me to just start walking up trees on my own after-all.

Of course I could pass it off as 'since my spying on Fugaku had introduced me to the concept'.

But I wanted to see how far I could go with leaves. And so I began with the challenging prospect of sticking leaves together with chakra.

Now, this might seem easy, considering the simplicity of sticking leaves to oneself with chakra but it really wasn't; I suppose it should help with the tree walking though, taking into account the fact that tree walking is done through the sandal, not skin to bark.

Predictably, I spent five afternoons disintegrating leaves with chakra flooding before I got it to succeed just once. Of course, at this my floundering resolve picked itself back up and I spent another whole week before consistent success arrived.

With my new and improved control I hastened to test it out in my genjutsu practice on Hiroshi-sensei.

"The tingling is a little less now, Nanashi-kun." He offered supportively.

"One step at a time, Hiroshi-sensei." I smiled back at the much taller male.

"Well, you still have a long way to go, but you're coming along." Hiroshi told me, I mentally thanked him for his moderated praise, pride cometh before a fall.

I slept well that night.

**Three Months Later**

Now five-and-a-half I am a budding genjutsu master. Yeah right, I haven't even poked out of the soil yet, barely more than a seed.

I had, however, learned the kawarimi and two new illusion techniques, both eye-to-eye.

Moreover, I'll be headed to the academy in a few months. It's quite fortunate, but here they use Arabic numerals as well, so mathematics won't be hard up through freshman year high-school level.

Once I earn my headband I'll look up some stuff on fuinjutsu, it being a highly praised and valuable skill. Of course, being a master won't happen unless I have actual talent in the field.

It seems expedient, now with the academy three and some low-ranked genjutsu, to learn some more ninjutsu. And so I asked Father and Hiroshi-sensei at lunch for a Katon jutsu.

"If you are ready, that's fine; if not, then you'll have to train."

After lunch, I showed Father my Great Fireball, and incinerated a leaf in my hand without burning myself to convince him.

"I see; then your request is acceptable."

Father showed me the hand-seals for the technique, Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger.

"Katon: Phoenix Sage Fire." He stated, launching several fireballs of small size forward, for effect he had them weave around each other before impacting against a wooden pole.

I went through the seals in a practice run before executing the technique. I had only been able to create two fireballs and I could not manipulate them as Father had, only being able to change their trajectory by a small margin.

"Hiroshi-san can guide you through the rest."

"Thank you very much, Father."

"It is of no consequence." He brushed off my thanks easily. I smiled slightly and bowed to him as he left.

"Let's begin. First, this technique is different from the Great Fireball in that the chakra is outside the body; this makes it harder to control."

"That's why the fireballs are small?"

"Yes. You couldn't change their trajectory as well if they were huge flaming balls of unstoppable destruction."

I see; this technique is quite hard because controlling external chakra is quite hard.

Of course, it's easier because the chakra is my own; I have no idea how bad it would be if I tried to use something else's chakra.

I pushed some of my chakra out of my body in spherical form as I went through the hand seals. When I completed the last Tiger the balls burst into flames and rushed forward. They dissipated before they could even hit the ground.

"I've got nothing more to tell you, though most don't try to use that method, instead most of us spit out each ball from inside the body, makes it easier to compress and control."

That would have been nice to know, this time I built up chakra inside my body, separating it into smaller balls which I spat out at rapid pace. They flew wildly and uncontrolled, I was still unable to manipulate let them to any real degree.

I spent weeks on it before I had passable control over the fireballs. Foolishly, I had depleted my chakra to a dangerous level at the end of this time, confining me to my bed for six days.

A month and a half after first being introduced to the technique I considered it truly learned.

"Don't be so careless, Nanashi-kun." Hiroshi-sensei chided me after I got up from my sick bed.

"I am very sorry Hiroshi-sensei." I bowed as far as was reasonably expected of me.

"Well, what matters is that you're healthy now."

Mother had taken very good care of me while I was resting; she had been very understanding about the whole affair.

Significantly, my chakra levels had risen slightly from the experience.

Despite all of this I was far from eager to repeat the affair, being bedridden for days was extremely difficult on me, a result of my active lifestyle.

"Of course."

"We've got some catch-up to do now."

"It seems so." I replied as I popped my joints back into place and did some stretches.

"It's good that you understand, Nanashi-kun. We'll be using afternoons for a week to make up for it."

"I'll come prepared then, Hiroshi-sensei."

"You've got ten minutes, no sense wasting time."

"I will hurry up then." I quickly changed clothes and collected my equipment, leaving my room in eight minutes.

"Good work, let's go."

I followed Hiroshi-sensei to our normal training ground where after some warm-ups we began to spar.

I launched a roundhouse kick at Hiroshi-sensei's face, failing to connect as he stepped back casually. I jumped forward quickly before he could counter, mounting an aggressive offense.

My attack was halted swiftly by the older man's deft right arm. Finding no opening and having far from infinite stamina I pulled back, allowing my sensei to make a mistake. He did not.

In short order I found myself once again wallowing in the dirt in an undignified fashion. I quickly rose and made that particular hand sign that signified the end of a match. I politely bowed to Hiroshi-sensei.

"Thank you for the spar." We concluded it thus, and he began reviewing my performance, pointing out where I had made errors and complimenting me when I made the right decision.

I then practiced my kunai and shuriken throwing; my shots woefully short ranged and slow due to my less than impressive stature. But that is what strength training is for, and so I try my best to make up the difference with push-ups and dumbbell lifting.

I was quite surprised that when I asked for a hand weight I actually got a real dumbbell, this world is full of surprises.

Recently I've taken up running, both sprinting and long distance, it is the best way to train stamina and speed after all. Quite delectably, it also improves chakra capacity.

"Father, how many Uchiha clans-people are there?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"A good question, we number almost two-hundred."

"You're quite knowledgeable."

"Of course, I am clan head."

"Are you the strongest currently living Uchiha?" No you're not, Madara is still alive but we'll leave that out for now.

"I like to think I am, but there are many talented and wise Uchiha."

Referring to up and comers as well as elders and subtly complimenting both, but we're not in company… It must be his honest opinion.

"Of course, Father."

That evening I went to talk with Mother.

"Mother, do you have anything to teach me?" I was careful to not sound whiny.

"It depends what you want to learn. Hiroshi-san and your Father are both much better fighters than me."

"Mother must be fairly strong or Father wouldn't have married her." I stated confidently.

She laughed gently with a smile, "Your Father wasn't always like he is now. Not that you're wrong, even then he wouldn't marry a helpless little girl."

"Tell me."

"Your Father was head-strong when he was young, confident in his training and the superiority of the Uchiha clan. He had a rude awakening during the war, that's the First Shinobi War; he lost his teammates, his sensei and his father."

"He became convinced that he was weak, and set out to change it. That's when he met me." She smiled nostalgically as she remembered.

"I was a genin at the time and he looked down on genins, they reminded him of himself." It's true, most genin are over-confident.

"He saw me as weak and useless, we went on a mission with a few others together and… I'll spare the bloody details, but he didn't look down on me anymore."

I see, a love born in blood, truly this is a world of killers, and I am from a clan of the best of them.

"Thank you for sharing." It lacked detail and was very brief, but I am thankful that Mother took the time to tell me this much.

"Anytime, Nana-chan." I can burn people alive at this point and I'm still Nana-chan, that's mothers for you.

After finishing my make-up classes my afternoons were free again. This time my thoughts turned to the Rasengan.

I knew the training steps for it yet it didn't feel right to steal it. That word right there, I'm a shinobi, I steal. Still, it would be no good if someone found out that I invented it before Minato, I'd have to keep it a strict secret.

But first, I'd need chakra control. Without the kage bunshin to help me I could spend a year of afternoons training in the technique.

That… that's rather daunting, perhaps it would be better to pick out a melee weapon to train in?

Let's see, meteor hammer? Katana? Perhaps a standard tanto or ninjato? Or maybe I wanted a big sword like Kubikiribuchou? At least I think that's the name of Zabuza's sword.

I looked through all the weapons I could think of mentally.

A whip perhaps? If made properly it could be infused with elemental chakra, now _that _would be impressive.

But first, I'd need ninja wire.

"Haha, I'm going out to buy some things." I informed my mother.

"You don't have any money."

"Oh." She was right, I _didn't _have any money.

"Tell me what you want to buy and we'll go get it."

"A large roll of ninja wire, and a piece of strong and flexible leather." I answered.

"I'll also probably need some way to tie the leather together; so strong rope as well."

"What for Nana-chan?"

"I'm going to make a weapon out of it, hopefully it'll work. This brings to mind, strong gloves will be needed too, in a fitting size of course."

"And what kind of weapon would you make out of that?"

"A whip, if I don't like it, I'll try out spears, and then if not that… a light-saber." The last part was added on in English and so quietly that Mother did not hear it.

"Rather strange weapons for a ninja, don't you think?"

"That's the point, I want to take the unbeaten path and discover things no one else has."

"I see, well it's not like this stuff will be too expensive so let's go." I get the distinct impression that she's humoring me because I'm a little kid.

Although… light sabers aren't impossible to make here, with chakra. Asuma's knuckle knives had something similar.

So many weapons… the problem with using a whip is that there are precious few who do, which means precious few can teach me.

The world of ninja's is truly a place to expect the unexpected.

**One Week Later**

It seems I underestimated the difficulty of safely braiding ninja wire and then tying off the end.

I looked ruefully down at my bleeding arms and spat in the direction of my little project.

Ninja wire was amazingly stubborn sometimes and ridiculously pliable in others. The real difficulty however was in tying off the end, if I didn't the whip would become three separate and wild strands in no time at all.

This was a dilemma almost a great as putting the handle on. This thought brought my gaze to the poorly made and flimsy leather that I called a handle.

I had finally attached it by making tiny holes and braiding the wire through them, unfortunately ninja wire was incredibly sharp and it was cutting through the leather at almost breakneck speed, my handle would soon be naught more than tiny pieces.

This all meant that I'd have to entrust the task to a real craftsman. This however, was unacceptably expensive; commissioning something like this that wasn't commonly asked for was quite costly.

Therefore I'll be setting this task aside, or getting some help, only one person to ask.

I went two houses to the left, "Hiroshi-sensei, sorry to ask you like this but could you help me with something?"

"I can, what is it?"

"It's better if I show you." I had painstakingly brought the 'whip' over and I now revealed it.

"What's this supposed to be?" He asked with a risen eyebrow.

"A whip," Seeing his amusement I added, "for combat."

"A combat whip? You're full of surprises; why do you need my help?"

"My handle is falling apart and I can't tie the other end off."

"I bet it is." He looked over my handy work with a critical eye.

"Well, it's not horribly done, a little bit thicker wire would have been nice but I'll manage."

I nodded, conceding the point.

"We can close off the end a number of ways; first, you could ask a blacksmith, he can take some extra metal and pound it together, this'll also give you a heavy tip."

"Or we could do what you did with the handle, only a tad more reliably."

"What would you do Hiroshi-sensei?"

"Personally? I'd take this to a blacksmith a get him to affix a handle as well as the end, that'll be the sturdiest option."

The wire pieces themselves were two-and-a-half meters long which made the end product rather over two meters; it was loosely braided to maintain flexibility.

"How much does that cost?" I'd always been a penny pincher.

"A few ryo, I know a guy."

"I only have ten ryo." I admitted.

"Don't worry about it kid, I've got plenty and you'll easily pay me back after only a couple missions."

"You are most kind."

"Let's go get it done."

We took the whip over to the blacksmith that Hiroshi-sensei knew, and he told the guy about the idea, who looked at me and raised his eyebrow twice during the short conversation.

"Leave it here; it'll be ready in a couple days."

"Thank you very much." I thanked both Hiroshi and the blacksmith.

As we left Hiroshi-sensei again struck up conversation, "Now kid, I'm more worried about you than the whip."

"Thank you for your concern."

"I mean it, ninja wire is dangerous stuff, I'm surprised your mother let you play around with it." Aha! It's a safety lecture; this man is such a heart-warming sensei.

"You are referring to the possibility of me cutting my own head off?"

"That's exactly right! You can seriously take heads off with that stuff."

"It's a risk I'll have to run."

"You don't have to; you can practice with a much less dangerous whip at first."

Of course I can, I already thought of this. I can just pull down some vines and whip those around; it's where I got the idea in the first place.

"I already have a plan." I smiled at his somewhat disbelieving face.

"Let's see it."

Konoha is a place full of trees, vines of all sizes that hug them is to be expected in this warm climate.

I yanked one down and swiped at my sensei with it, he automatically dodged.

I smiled, "See?"

"It's amateur at best; the difference between a vine and your whip is huge."

My shoulders slumped slightly; Hiroshi really didn't like this whip business did he?

"I'll be careful."

"I've got a better idea; we'll coat the sucker in lightweight washable foam; that should make it safer."

I almost asked, "You guys have industrial foam here?" but I refrained. This would indeed solve some of my problems.

The coating would limit maneuverability, considering that it was stiff and solid, but it would help out in the early months.

I spent my days before entering the academy practicing with the unruly whip and learning more taijutsu and chakra control.

A month before the semester started I finally got rid of the coating on my whip, now switching over to body armor over my vitals to keep myself safe.

It seemed that the art of the whip would never be a real art. I had learned some of what not to do, and some combos that only worked on stationary objects, but I wasn't much better at it than your average motion coordinated person.

It was all rather depressing but I didn't let it get me too far down.

"How's it going, whipping boy?" Once Nii-san found out about it he's been like this, I honestly think his teasing is the only thing keeping me going.

"It's going normal, Nii-san."

"More wasted hours at the whipping post?" This was alluding to the fact that I whipped wooden poles for my training.

"Not wasted, just used poorly."

"Finally realizing the futility of being a whipper snapper?"

The whipping jokes never cease, I say.

"No, I'm just depressed because Nii-san doesn't love me."

"Of course I don't, who'd love an idiot?" He asked laughingly, you really ought to be more careful Nii-san, a normal six year old could be seriously scarred for life if you said that to them.

"I predict that Nii-sans wife will call Nii-san an idiot."

"Then I guess it'll have been an arranged marriage." He replied soberly, to be honest I'm not against arranged marriages.

"You shouldn't try to act older than you are, you won't be getting married for a while."

"You're the one that brought it up, whipping boy!"

"Nii-san is abusive, calling his only brother a whipping boy." I sniffed into my arm.

"What? No! I'm not abusive, you _are _a whipping boy."

"See what I mean?" I cried harder.

"It's just good natured joking, no need to cry."

"So Nii-san doesn't think that whips are useless?" I asked mournfully.

"Ye…ah so don't cry."

I jumped and did a little victory dance in front of my brother's disbelieving eyes.

"I told you I'd get you to admit it!"

"You persistent brat, I should have known better than to trust you."

"By hook or by crook." I shot him a grin, my chin length hair framing my face.

"Little brat, this conversation didn't happen."

"If you say so nii-san, but what you said still counts, you just didn't say it under duress."

He opened and closed his mouth as he searched for a retort, finally settling with, "Nothing I said got said either."

"So I'm not a whipping boy? Yay!" I jumped for joy.

"You're impossible," Was all he could manage as he sighed and walked away.

"Thank you for your generous compliment, Nii-san," I bowed very slightly as he left. In reply he simply gave me a backwards wave.

Disappointingly, Fugaku isn't all wrong, my progress has truly been painful and slow, I've given myself minor injuries by the dozen.

However, it's a matter of pride now, I can't give up I won't give up. I shall succeed with this ambition.

In the process of reading all I could about ninja wire and whips, I'd run across the fact that it can handle elemental chakra, though water and earth are not very useful.

There is even a Katon technique that's used this way; I'll be looking it up soon.

In a month I'll be joining the academy, I look forward to seeing how I measure up to my peers.

I wonder if I'll be in class with anyone I know. Not really know, but know from the Naruto story, it's feasible I suppose.

**Two Weeks Later**

"How is my fire manipulation?" I asked my ever reliable Sensei.

"You're coming along decently; we'll need to find something more advanced for training."

"Heating up a rock? Heating water to a boil?" I asked eagerly.

He raised an eyebrow, "Let's go with the second one."

"When will Sensei teach me a new technique?" I was fully allowing my childish side to run rampant.

"Just as soon as you're top of your class."

"In that case, I'll do my best."

"You do that."

Hopefully Hiroshi-sensei doesn't think I'm a reward driven kid, people have memorized books of the Bible for naught more than candy I know.

It's far from above plausibility that a ninja would get to the top of their class for a new jutsu. In fact it's a major bonus to becoming best in class. But it remains a bonus; you should do your best in any case.

Hopefully someday I'll measure up to Hiroshi-sensei and Father.

**Two Week Later**

The water boiling exercise is really quite useful, I mused as I slurped my noodles; they were rather bland having nothing but oil on them, but it's the closest thing to Italian food around here.

Parmesan cheese is altogether unknown in this life, worse luck. In fact having only Asian food is getting harder on me, I'm used to it by now but I guess sometimes I fondly remember the variety of my life in my last body.

I finished my noodles at length and quietly got up, other than more advanced fire manipulation I've been being drilled in stealth, and I mean to use it.

I made a previously studied walk to the academy and asked for where I should go for testing, my mother shadowing my shoulder.

I reckon it's somewhat abnormal for the kid to lead and the mother to just be there at this point, but I am not going to submit to awkward shyness. You see, I've never been a people person but I'm conquering that fear slowly, like so many others.

The initial testing was absolutely wimpy, though it's to be expected.

The written portion was naught more than an IQ test; prospective shinobi under 75 IQ were immediately turned away.

Of course, this was only the paper side of things, after this they tested strength and stamina. I impressed myself with the fact that I needed lots more of each.

After they tabulated the results they ushered me into what would be my place of learning for a year.

To say I was surprised when the names of some of my classmates were revealed would be an understatement.

**AN: Here's chapter three, courtesy of me and my proof reader.**

**The whip thing might go nowhere, in case you were wondering.**

**Correct guesses on classmates will be rewarded with a shout-out.**

**Suggestions on just about anything are welcome; I like to know what you think. (In particular who should be on my team.)**

**-Sincerely**

**Iamwhononofyouare**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: If you haven't guessed what this is about already… I don't own a single work of manga. **_**Including**_** NARUTO period**

**Chapter Four **

"Furuya Mebuki?" A pink haired little girl was addressed, Sakura's mom? She called 'Here' eagerly.

A few others of no note were listed.

"Hyuuga Hiashi?"

"Here," Was his monotone reply.

"Hyuuga Hizashi?"

"Here," His reply was unsettlingly similar to the last.

A couple more were asked and then came the big one.

"Namikaze Minato?"

"Future Hokage is right here!" He yelled exuberantly back. A red-headed girl closer to the front scoffed.

Still more were read off the roll-call paper, even though there was no need; no kid wasn't there for their first real day of ninja school.

"Uchiha Isao?" This was the other honorable Uchiha in class, pun totally intended.

"Hn," The flat-haired raised his hand as he grunted his reply.

"Uchiha Nanashi?"

I showed off a little and smirked as I burnt a leaf in my hand, the smoke as my reply.

"Uzumaki Kushina?"

"Right here, get this over with already; you already know we're all here."

If I had to say… she's immaturely intelligent, translation: annoying.

Nevertheless, this is a rather prestigious year, in my eyes; to others it's just normal.

Of course, I expect none of my thirty-three classmates actually expect Minato to follow through; for now, it's best if I stay aloof, so as to not affect canon time-line over much.

It's sad that all the major members of my class except Hiashi die in a score of years or so. Perhaps I can change that.

The day began with an outline of what to expect and a schedule thereof, ostensibly so that the students could prepare themselves.

After this the teacher introduced us to the open circle a km in length. And then he promptly ordered us to run like it was to save Konoha, curiously, everyone sped up when he added that tidbit. I guess patriotism is strong in Hi no Kuni.

After we had exhausted ourselves within the time limit, we were called back and a professor style teacher came in, lecturing us on the Shodaime's legendary 'Will of Fire'.

The next day it seemed that I had caught a certain someone's eye.

"Hey noble punk, I'll run five more laps than you today!" It was, predictably, Kushina.

"I am indeed from the Noble Uchiha Clan; and while I resent the 'punk' label I am unable to refute it. In answer to your foolish statement, it matters little what you say you'll do, it only matter's what you can achieve." Hey now, that sounded pretty good, maybe once I graduate they'll start quoting that in this very room.

"Stuck-up clan-boy," Was her retort, having no answer to the latter half of my statement.

"Uzumaki-san, may I remind you that you also hail from a clan, if not as prestigious or well-known as my own?" Riling her up is just too much fun.

"Is that right, eye-ball freak?" Ah, of course the Sharingan would pop up.

To not seem speechless I answered, "My Sharingan is, sadly, not yet activated."

Any further bantering was cut short by the esteemed teacher who presided over today's physical activities.

"Shut-up and start running on three! Three!" I immediately spotted the loop-hole and lurched forward, "Two!" The rest of the kids caught on and took after me, causing the dirty blond sensei to smile and stop counting.

I ran just as fast as my tiny legs could carry me for a short distance, before evening out so that I could keep running for a longer distance.

Kushina, however, had no such reservations her active lifestyle helping her for a distance as she pulled into first place, sticking her tongue out at me saucily as she passed.

The redhead did not factor in the fact that we were going to be running for forty minutes and so she fell behind long before the end.

In the end a chunin's son placed second, with me a comfortable first; I did not, however, allow it to go to my head, beating brats less than half my mental age was no surprise; they had no form or strategy.

Arrogance has killed and will kill many.

*As a Ninja*

The unfortunate truth is… I need a shorter whip, after experimentally holding back a couple feet of my construct I found it much easier to use, whereas my tiny limbs could barely wield the two meter failing monstrosity.

So I took what was left of my ninja wire and cut three portions out, each one-and-a-half meters long and loosely braided it as before.

I looked at the ryo I had with me contentedly, my parents had started giving me an allowance after I entered the academy. And I now had what should be enough to pay for a handle on my idle new whip.

If I could only remember the blacksmith and the route we took to go there…

Oh well, I guess I'll wait until next weekend so that I can ask Hiroshi-sensei.

On that note, Hiroshi-sensei and I only meet on weekends to train nowadays, the academy taking the better portion of the day on week-days.

I looked down at the senbon in my hand with a face that said little of my anger at the poor thing. Fugaku had given it to me after picking it up in a training ground and had also said, "A whipping boy like you can use some 'real' ninja gear." I suspect it was mostly a joke but I still accepted it and began practicing throwing the thing, half the time I poked my palm with the double ended needle.

The other half my aim was off or the thing spun around and hit broadside first.

I muttered dejectedly as the battle-grade senbon fell down before it reached the target, the small flick of my hand muscles an insufficient propellant. Now that's an idea… propellant… pressurized chakra maybe? I needed a sturdy tube that was of correct size and I knew just where to look.

Gunpowder existed here already, if not in a few years, and could be used if I got my hands on some. On a separate string of thoughts… exploding tags were much more cost efficient and useful. Fuinjutsu… a tiny coin shaped object with the exploding seal carved on one side followed by a bullet? Maybe someday, if I get any skill in the field.

But really, guns under modern grade sniper and assault rifles are no good in a world of supernatural soldiers who can launch tsunamis in seconds.

And that brings us back to the senbon launcher, which could be useful, if it didn't need hand-seals or any hand interaction at all. If hidden on the underside of my forearm I could launch a palm strike followed by a high speed needle. That would be useful.

I put my Uchiha jacket on inside-out as I made my way to the metal junkyards. Just about any unused, unwanted, or just plain rusty metal in Konoha found its way here. Finding a pipe that snugly fit a senbon couldn't be too hard.

As only finding loose fits after hours could attest to, I am not infallible.

I brought the ones that could potentially be used with me and returned home before dinner.

After eating I was too tired to do any more than basic rust removal.

The following morning I slept in slightly, resulting in a morning rush as I hurried out the door to the academy.

It'd been two weeks since the academy started now and Kushina still challenges me every day, whereas Minato really does try to do his best. He's quite a kid, proclaiming his future rank of Hokage and yet not being as constantly loud as Naruto.

Instead he worked hard at his goal, really trying to be acknowledged.

Unfortunately for Minato, the blond boy really looked quite effeminate, as our class's resident tom-boy red-head can attest to.

"Uzumaki-chan, good luck with beating me today," It really grated her when people were arrogant and I have always found pleasure in provoking others, a poor trait to be sure.

And so I portrayed myself to her as a self-important prick.

"Little clan-boy hasn't taken enough of a beating yet?"

"Look at the record; you have yet to beat me in any way except for decibels produced per day and childishness." My chin was raised slightly and my eyebrow perfectly risen.

"I'll show you childish!" Her temper really is short; she lunged at me with a well-practiced punch.

To show my intense superiority I simply completely disregarded the motion – at least to untrained eyes – and the punch landed on my chest with no effect as I took my seat.

I smirked imperiously back at her and then moved my eyes to the door where the teacher had just arrived.

"Uzumaki, I saw that! Attacking classmates outside of spars is illegal, detention after school."

She scowled at the man and spat a little in my direction as she sat down in the closest opening.

Class was arithmetic; it was nothing more than addition and subtraction at this stage however. Childs-play.

After PE we were ushered back into the classroom where each student was handed a notebook and pencil before the history lesson commenced.

Before school ended we were all put through the unfamiliar katas of the academy taijutsu style, spars would begin in two weeks.

I mentally warred myself and decided that for academy spars I would use academy taijutsu.

This meant that I ran the risk of being defeated, but my course was set.

Of course, the other object of Kushina's attention was her rival, Minato; both proclaimed their future rank of Hokage and, naturally since they were the same age, both realized that one was wrong.

My honored classmates asked me which one I thought was more likely to succeed, and –being slightly chauvinistic- I said, "The strongest people have always been men, it's more likely that Minato will succeed."

This immediately rose the female in question's hackles and she angrily demanded why I thought that women couldn't be strong.

I had said, "I make no claim that they cannot be strong, I merely say they are not strong_est_."

Albeit I had a personal interest in infuriating the Habanero so perhaps I was biased, or maybe it was the fact that Minato really does make Hokage? It is of no consequence.

I went home happily and had a late lunch; I then found my shorter whip which had recently been finished by the friendly blacksmith.

I cracked it silently for experimental purposes. The sharp tip danced about as I lashed back and forth, I smiled widely; this could work.

I swung it around for a bit to get used to it before attempting to make a dance out of my moves. Unfortunately, I'm not much for dancing and so the session ended with drawn blood from my right arm.

I then went through the academy katas quickly before turning to my best tube.

The glaring errors were numerous, I needed one end closed or else it would be incredibly inefficient. The senbon didn't fit snugly either, which meant I'd have to use wadding.

Perhaps this really is too much for me? No! I refuse to give up until I've really tested it.

To close the end up I whittled down a stick to the appropriate size, I had to do this nine times to get one acceptably round; I then soaked it in water before sticking it in the end of the tube. Hopefully it would expand against the side enough to stay put.

I would wait two long weeks for the project to dry.

*As a Ninja*

"Clan-boy! I am going to beat you into the ground!" It seems Kushina is taking this 'rivalry' very seriously and is glad that we are going to spar.

My senbon launcher mark one is all dried out by now, I hope, and I want today's lessons to finish quickly so I can work on the blasted thing.

"I won't go easy on you, Uzumaki."

"It won't matter either way; I'll beat you into the ground!" Wow. Two words, worked up. I guess I've really gotten under her skin lately.

"We shall see how beats who in the ring." I ended the worthless argument and looked to the current fighters; Hiashi was demolishing a member of a lesser clan.

Next up was the chunin's son from day one and Minato, this could be interesting.

Minato obviously had trouble with the academy style, but at this point no one really expected anyone who wasn't from a clan do any more than sloppily flail about. So the fact that he used one combo from the manual was surprising, if not impressive.

Unfortunately for our class's blond Hokage proclaimer the other boy, Shin'Ichi, had received some instruction from his father; resulting in a resounding win for him.

However, the blue eyed Namikaze stood back up with a cheerful smile and thanked his opponent for the instruction as the teachers picked apart both boy's styles.

At length it was time for my match with the Habanero and we both strode confidently to the ring.

"Taijutsu only, yes?" I asked the proctor.

"Yes, Uchiha-san."

I made the seal of confrontation but Kushina did not deign to do the same, instead rolling her shoulder before taking a stance and smirking.

"I'll show you that women can be Hokage."

"I already know they can."

"Hajime!" Both of us ignored the call in favor of our bantering.

"Finally giving up? Scared because all you are is talk, huh!"

"Incorrect, I am merely stating that Konoha has no law for the prohibition of a female Hokage."

"You're persistent, clan-boy!"

"So I am, now, let's get this over with."

She jumped forward with alacrity, hoping to catch me by surprise no doubt; however, I haven't sparred with Hiroshi-sensei for nothing. I smoothly side-stepped to the left and symbolically kicked her posterior, angering her in the process.

She spun around with a kick of her own, impressively fast for a six year old and once again I lightly stepped away.

As she ran at me with a one-two punch combo I knelt, avoiding the blows and then launched an upper-cut to her stomach quickly, jumping back before Kushina's inevitable retaliation.

I then switched from my no-name style to the academy basic, waiting for her to make her move. She once again charged with a speed that belied her tiny stature, proving why she could beat up kids her age no problem.

Unfortunately for her success I was not just any kid, I swatted away her punches and kicks and then punched out before elbowing her in the face causing her to stagger backwards.

To say she was displeased with her failure to damage me was like saying that her hair was only a little red.

She jumped at me with a nicely executed flying kick that I dodged easily, kicking her back with a –whatever they call those 180 kicks- and she tumbled out of the arena.

"Winner, Uchiha Nanashi!" The teacher called as I offered my hand to the downed red-head.

"I don't need your pity!" She swatted my hand away.

"It's not pity; it's what winners do to losers to make them feel better." I shot her a smirk as I finished.

"I'm no loser!" She yelled, infuriated once more, ahh... it's good to have easy to manipulate people around you, she's more fun when angry anyway.

"That's right; you're the first female Hokage, yes?"

"That's right, eye-freak!"

"My money's still on Namikaze," I offered.

"The wimp? I'll beat him into the ground!"

"We shall see."

As with most days at school, it ended on a pleasant note, something to go home with a smile about.

I checked on my launcher when I got home and noted with satisfaction that the wood had indeed expanded, becoming quite tight. I procured two pieces of blank paper from the library and double lined the inside of the pipe so that the pressure would actually apply to the senbon.

Now I needed a way to make sure that there would actually be a chamber to build up pressure to launch the senbon with. I settled on wood once more, hollowing out one end of it I slid it down the tube and then shoved the senbon in after it.

Now for the hard part, I can't use fire or an explosion due to the partially wooden nature of my construct… I needed pure chakra, condensed to the extreme. I could then release my control over it; the dispersion of energy should shoot the senbon.

Well, that was the idea. Unfortunately, super compressed chakra takes a lot of control that I don't have, the senbon did little more than fly a couple feet really slowly before falling to earth.

Nonetheless, I considered it a success, after all the senbon left the barrel without the assistance of gravity.

Which brings us to our other problem, if you held the launcher at a low enough angle all the stuff inside would just fall out. This defeated the original purpose of being used as a nifty surprise in a taijutsu battle as one could scarcely not tip their arm down at some point or other in such an encounter.

And so I reached the obvious conclusion, I need a way to keep the senbon inside even if I tipped it so that it pointed straight down. I had some ideas on how to do this, none of them easy for a man of my resources.

But I was nothing if not resourceful and so I went to the one place I knew could help me.

"Hiroshi-sensei, I need help with another project."

"What now? Earrings that attack people on their own?" He joked pleasantly.

"That's actually a really good idea… but no, just a chakra powered senbon launcher."

I showed the work of art to his skeptical face. Then loaded and fired it, the senbon again going two feet before falling.

"It works! Let me see it… if you got this to work what do you need my help for?"

I reloaded it and then with great aplomb tipped it point down, the hollowed wood and senbon fell out.

"Ohh…" Was all he could manage, bloody useless.

"So you need a way to click in the senbon without making it impossible to launch?"

"Precisely."

"The simplest way to do that… You need a spring."

"Makes sense, where can I get one?" I let none of my apprehension show, how was I supposed to even install the spring! Sticking my hand down senbon width pipe four inches long didn't seem likely.

On a side note, I've never come to Hiroshi-sensei's place without him being there, is teaching me the only thing he does for a living?

It could very well be, maybe that's why he's so nice to me, 'As long as that clan head's son likes me and my teaching I'll have food to eat.' Is it that kind of thing?

But then again, Hiroshi seems like the genuine kind of guy. Maybe he just copied someone he knew with the Sharingan and now uses that as his basis for this personality?

Gah! Stupid conspiracy theories, it's doesn't matter, what matters is that spring.

"I bet I got one, I used to dink around with stuff like you when I was younger, still do sometimes." He smiled, so that's why he knows so much about random junk.

He brought out the tiniest spring I ever did see, sparking my reaction, "Is that tiny thing even going to do anything, sensei?"

"This thing may look small put its surprisingly strong, now… how to attach this?"

We puzzled over it for a while before concluding that the only way was to cut a hole in the pipe and then stick it in, something I was ill equipped to succeed in.

And so the project fell by the wayside, in favor of new thoughts and incentives.

While I regretted not being able to finish the launcher I looked at it as a learning experience: not all things will succeed.

And so I brought my attention back to my whip and taijutsu, practicing each for an hour a day.

Two months into school we had our first class rankings, the written test had been the day before, and I was proudly on the top of the list. This caused a grand smile within me, now Hiroshi-sensei would have to teach me my new jutsu.

"Hiroshi-sensei, I'm top of my class."

"So, you want your new technique then?"

"Of course," I grinned up at him.

"I'll demonstrate." He took a long piece of ninja wire and went through the full set of hand-seals for the technique and then fire took off down the wire as he spoke the name, "Katon: Dragon Fire."

I small flame went down the wire, grounding itself when it reached the end.

Hiroshi then told me the hand-seals and explained the technique, prompting me to use the same wire he had.

"Katon: Dragon Fire," I whispered in awe as the fire took off down the wire, with a small adjustment I could make my whip flame with this little trick.

Interestingly enough, when this technique comes in contact with flesh it causes a small explosion. I look forward to a burning whip indeed.

School the next day saw a rise in interaction between Minato and Kushina.

"Hey Namikaze! Let's settle this right now, you and me." So… thuggish.

"Of course, if you will acknowledge me when I win," Contrary to his meek appearance Minato was actually self-confident to an extent.

"No fighting in the classroom, brats." That was our dirty blond teacher Aoki Yoshiro, he was the primary instructor for our classes, as well as the teacher that I recognized by name here.

Fortunately for Kushina, she got her chance in the taijutsu section to beat him down, as they were matched up against each other.

"What a wimp," Was all the Habanero had to say as she stepped over the fallen body of her opponent. She really is quite vicious.

"Up Namikaze, my money is still on you." I encouraged, the little blond beamed back at me as he licked his wounds.

"WHAT! I just demolished him and you _still _think the wimp is going to beat me out for Hokage?"

"If neither of you get the title, he'll still be closer."

Crushingly for Minato, he now had to put up with daily taunts and near-daily pranks from Kushina now. It seems she really cares about my opinion? Well whatever, by the time we're jonin she won't even remember this.

The days passed by like a breeze, and by the time year two of the academy started the rankings were simple.

Uchiha Nanashi; I'm just that good, what can I say?

Hyuuga Hiashi; no surprise here, considering his status.

Hyuuga Hizashi; again no surprise, he is a quite talented individual.

Uzumaki Kushina, apparently she actually is rather good at basic multiplication and division.

Shin'Ichi; never did catch his last name, as everyone just called him 'Shin'.

Uchiha Isao, if he were any lower I'm sure he would have cried, honestly.

Namikaze Minato, to Kushina's chagrin he was actually intelligent and really quite good at everything he set his mind to.

The list went on but these were the persons of note.

Now seven, my whip wielding skills are actually skills, my genjutsu has improved and I've learned much about the art of illusions.

_It is possible to insert chakra into the subject's brain at long range, without eye-contact or other sensory affliction._

Seriously, why wasn't that in my beginner's book? This method is actually closer to ninjutsu than sensory genjutsu, since it uses hand-seals to focus chakra, a necessity considering the chakra usage of such techniques.

I've also learned the more enhanced version of the henge, projecting a layer of chakra around other objects to transform them. While impossible to henge a ninja into someone else you can do it with a normal civilian, though I don't know a lot of civilians.

The reason you can't affect a ninja in this manner is simple, the human body rejects foreign chakra.

This is why jinchuuriki have an abysmal life-span normally, main exception being Uzumaki, who don't reject foreign chakra as harshly, making them easier to both heal and seal living beings into.

And also the easiest to project a henge onto, don't tell anyone. And so I followed Kushina home, changing her into Minato in appearance I waited for when she would wake up. I consider this just retribution for the pranks she's pulled on me.

Of course, Kushina has a surprisingly girly side and so she keeps a mirror which she brushes her hair in front of every morning. So when she groggily awoke and changed behind my respectful back and then meandered over to her mirror, the room we were both in was shaken by her scream.

If I had hands in this form they would be over my ears, but right now I'm just an amazingly mobile dirty plate. I really should have gone with the termite henge.

Having seen the fun I quickly became a scrambling bed-bug that slipped out under the door. The henge is really a reality defying technique.

Wrong! What really happened was that I transformed into the plate and then cast a genjutsu that played out the rest of the seen, sans what Kushina did of course. You didn't really think anybody could just conveniently henge into an unnoticeable bug did you?

Don't get me wrong, it's most certainly possible, just not for the current me, also the henge is no physical transformation, just a change in appearance to the naked eye.

Which is why doujutsu can see through them, as they are most certainly not the naked eye.

On the subject of the genjutsu I used, it really is not a very combat oriented one, basically what it does is make things in a certain direction appear the same for a few seconds, it's useless against skilled shinobi is a constantly shifting environment.

The bed bug was a personal touch.

Useful for pranking hot tempered as the redness of their hair Uzumaki though. I expect my projection henge will wear off soon. Nonetheless it was amusing to hear her horror at seeing herself as someone else in the mirror, and for real.

Well, it was mostly for a practical use of my new genjutsu skills, and if I may say, genjutsu is very useful.

In any case I still have class to go to.

*As a Ninja*

Kushina narrowed her eyes at her blond rival before making insulting gestures in my own direction and sitting down wordlessly.

My my, too speechless to talk this fine morning? Of course, I'm not stupid enough to say that out loud.

"I'll beat you up good, red-head!" That was Minato, and no matter how much I look at him those words should not leave his lips, he's such a small kiddo.

"You? Beat me? Wimp, that'll be the day."

Oh yes it will, I look forward to it.

"And when I do, you'll have to acknowledge me!" It's almost sad how Minato and Naruto in the academy both had the same reason for being Hokage.

"If you can beat me I'll kowtow before you, wimp, believe it!"

"Just make sure you remember you said that when I win!"

"I remember everything, blond."

Wow… that's some serious discrimination going on, throwing blond around like an insult and all.

"Hyuuga, I look forward to seeing how much you've improved."

"So do I, Uchiha."

"What about you Hizashi-san? Have anything to say?"

He cocked his head ever so slightly before speaking, "I also look forward to seeing how much we've improved, Nanashi-san."

"You guys are about as exciting as a blunt kunai."

"We do not need to be exciting; we only need to be effective."

"Of course, I leave it to your father's better judgment." Really though, the pain inflicting function on the Hyuuga branch members is unneeded and gross. I mean I respect that they don't want their doujutsu stolen but it's really too much.

While I can't say I'm on good terms with the Hyuuga twins – who can? – I will say that we get along fine. The two are nothing if not polite, though Hiashi throws subtle challenges and insults every so often, a result of the rivalry between the Uchiha and Hyuuga.

While by the time the Kyuubi attacked the Hyuuga were ahead in the political game they were not so now.

The lecture today was more of a 'gratz you made it through year one' kind of thing.

There were no spars today, mostly just a rerun of day one of entering the academy.

This year it seems we'll delve into the mysteries of chakra; having forgone most talk about it the year before, so that late bloomers could have a chance for the big expand.

Other than that it seems we'll get an extra teacher to 'help us out', more likely to keep us in line.

Curiously, hand stands will be a part of this year's curriculum. I suppose they told us so that skirt wearers would have a chance to switch to pants.

I walked home from school, confident in my ability to stay on the top for this year as well, and as I marched along a dreadful feeling hit me.

I began to run home, fearing that perhaps this dread was perhaps for a reason. I pushed open the doors to the compound and recoiled at what I saw.

Dead Uchiha, everywhere.

I frantically searched for my family but in their place stood a man, with an orange mask.

This was impossible! Obito wasn't even born yet, I carefully stopped the flow of chakra in my body.

"Kai!" Nothing.

"Kai!" A triple layered genjutsu?

"Kai!" Still nothing.

"KAAIII!" I began to mourn; it was real… but how? Had my presence changed so much? I looked around and saw a mirror. Only, it was not my expression that surprised me, not even my tears… It was the eyes, those cursed, red eyes.

The eyes of a pathetic avenger, the eyes of a murderer, the eyes of a worthless sensei… My eyes.

I gazed at the mirror, ignoring the orange masked man. Watching wordlessly as the hypnotic spinning of a single tomoe in each eye did not cease.

The world around me shattered.

A saw the faces of my family and my one true sensei, Hiroshi, a dream?

"Poor boy, this kind of thing can traumatize kids Yuu."

"That's what has to happen, unless we threaten his life."

"Sorry Nanashi, but by all accounts you should have had your Sharingan by now."

"What?" It was all I could manage.

Hiroshi-sensei continued, "Unless your Sharingan is activated by intense emotions or life-or-death situations, it should pop up on its own."

"The rarity on the popping on its own is so low though that we've come up with a system, once an Uchiha attains a certain level of strength we use this genjutsu on them."

"It's a Demonic Illusion that's layered and much more subtle than the easier and more common, Hell-Viewing."

"So it was all a fake to get me the freaky spin-eyes?" I asked, astounded.

"If you want to call them that, then yes, Nanashi. Now, remove the chakra from your eyes to deactivate them." My father - Yuu was it? – was the speaker.

I focused and deactivated my Sharingan, noting with interest that the world was no longer HD.

"I hope you don't blame us for this."

"Of course not, Mother." I smiled as wide as I could without showing my teeth, indeed I should thank you. No matter the method, doujutsu are too powerful to pass up.

"Good, Hiroshi-san will be instructing you in the use of your Sharingan starting tomorrow. For now, rest." Was he going to put me out? He was it seemed, I activated my Sharingan as Fathers blue hand came down, hoping to copy the technique.

My vision went black.

**AN: The Isao pun is referring to the fact that Isao means 'Honorable man'.**

**And here is chapter four! Thank you to all avid readers of this less than perfect work.**

**Suggestions for teammates are still welcome. All other suggestions as well.**

**Please leave a review, ok? Good.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or even this keyboard.**

Chapter Five

A single tomoe Sharingan has the less than all-powerful benefit of enhanced vision and photographic memory. It also provides a faster signal between eye and brain. While a distinct leg up over a normal eye, it pales in comparison to the 2-tomoe or 3-tomoe.

Nevertheless, I currently have only the one tomoe, so I shall use it to my advantage.

And so as long as I am able I keep it activated, as I read, and as I train, but not while in school, ever. Call it keeping secrets, but I find no purpose in flaunting to my classmates my soon to be technique-stealer.

And so they know nothing of the red eye that only Uchiha carry, Kakashi not nearly on a team with Minato as sensei yet.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

"Hello, Namikaze-san what can I help you with?" Truly, it's not often the blond approaches me

"I request a spar, to test myself against you." He's not the first to say something along those lines; I think I understand Shikamaru a bit better now.

"You think you're up for it, peon?"

"Of course! I'm going to be Hokage!" Yay for you, you didn't add the ever disappointing 'when I grow up'.

"That is acceptable, where shall I find you when the time is for our fight?"

"Uhh," He rubbed his neck hair in a suspiciously sheepish manner, "I haven't picked a spot yet."

"You asked me without arranging a place of confrontation? You could have chosen ground that favored you."

"I didn't think you'd actually agree." At least you're honest, little one.

"So you came with no expectation of success, how brave."

"Anyway, I know a good spot."

"So do I, Konoha has plenty of open spaces for ninja to fight, and plenty of forested places too."

"Then after you."

"I merely stated I knew places to confuse you, you are still the host and must still find the field of confrontation."

"Right." I am being rather difficult aren't I?

After school I followed the young Minato to a wide, open area with zero trees, an amazing feat for a place like Konoha.

"Rules?"

"Anything you got but no weapons." Good-bye then, future Hokage.

"In that case, please let me know when to begin." Minato really is quite adventurous, inviting me to a completely private spar like this.

"Hajime!" He yelled and stood stock still. I looked at his feet, clever boy.

"Did you think that would work?" I asked as I turned around to face a charging Minato.

"No!" From the side! Double clever.

"You shouldn't have revealed your position." Were my words to the almost sickly looking boy as I slammed my foot into his gut. Kawarimi?

"Smart, you impress me Minato."

"Hyaah!" A drop kick? Naïve. The kick walloped where 'I' stood. Causing the bunshin to fade as the ruse was revealed; however, it seemed Minato compensated and his landing was not affected.

I looked straight into his eyes, launching an E-rank genjutsu.

"Everything… is yellow?" He asked as I gave him a yellow smile.

He jumped back as he cried his defiance, "Kai!"

"Close, but no miso." It sounds funny I admit but 'no cigar' isn't a saying here.

I had circled around at my fastest pace as soon as the genjutsu was laid, leaving a bunshin to act like me.

I punched quickly as he made a hasty defense and I bemoaned the fact that weapons were not allowed.

He somersaulted backwards to absorb the force and I knew better than to follow after.

"Try this for size, Namikaze." Three hand-seals later I was surrounded by ten bunshin. We each cracked our neck and took a stance, ready to pounce on the little boy who dared to challenge our superiority.

I wove in and out of the bunshin as I advanced, Minato blocking illusory punches all the while. I went to his left as the other ten each took an angle, as one we jumped in each in a slightly different pose.

The orphan blocked me, I narrowed my eyes.

"I can sense you."

"Of course, I forgot that you were a sensor."

"Forgot?"

"Forgot, didn't know, no matter." I went through hand-seals slowly behind my back.

"Is that right?"

"That's right, I shouldn't try this on you but, I will." I launched my Phoenix Sage Fire and the young boy, limiting the power so that it would not be fatal.

"Holy! I didn't know you had stuff like that!"

"Everyone learns, this may hurt so please dodge my friend."

Instead he charged straight at my fireballs hitting the dirt as he got close. If I had my Sharingan activated I could have reacted in time but as it was the fire impacted the ground.

I lurched forward to take the battle to close range, engaging the future Hokage in fierce taijutsu.

"I see you know your academy taijutsu well Minato-san, allow me to show you something more."

I switched to the almost unfamiliar interceptor style, speeding through the practiced moves too fast for the surprised blond to react.

I finished the combo with a left legged kick, finally downing my opponent. I offered my hand to the orphan.

"You impressed me, Minato-san."

"Thanks! Just call me Minato."

"Then I suppose it's polite for me to let you call me Nanashi."

"Of course, Nanashi."

"You ok?"

"Just a few bruises."

"Works for me, you live at the orphanage, yes?"

"Yeah, until I'm a genin at least."

"If you require no aid to proceed to your residence I shall leave you now." I love talking funny.

"I'm fine, Nanashi, see you tomorrow."

"Indeed, live long and prosper." Inside jokes are the best kind, yes?

Minato took off in the direction of what I knew was the orphanage, and I left for my own home.

"Mother, I have returned." I greeted said female figure.

"Welcome back Nana-chan."

"I need to go wash up; I hope to see you later."

"Of course, no problem."

I went to the bath that we owned and relaxed in its soothing embrace. And my thoughts turned to the ever present question, why?

Why did I try so hard to get stronger? Was it because there were few books and no internet? Was it because it was the path of least resistance? Or was it because I was naïve enough to believe I could really change a thing?

It was a question only I could answer, which didn't reassure me.

I needed a confidant, someone I could trust with my knowledge, but there was no one.

Minato was no good, if I told him his sense of justice would end him or me in the loony bin. And if not that; then the course of events would be altered too significantly by his own machinations.

My own family could… this discussion was useless; I'd never trust myself to tell anyone this, or trust anyone enough to tell them it either.

I removed myself from the bath after I had spent sufficient time and effort to become clean. I looked at my right hand, activating my Sharingan as I did so. I clenched the hand hard as I gazed upon it intensely, making a solid fist.

I loosened the hand and clenched it once more, again not moving my eyes.

I was determined; I knew I was; I only went through this little ritual when I was. But then, what was I determined to do?

I needed a goal, something I would fight for and protect. What would it be? My arrogant clan? The self-righteous Konoha and its citizens?

No, I needed something more… worthy.

I punched the wall before clothing myself in the Uchiha style I owned; I looked at the fan on the back of the jacket before shrugging and putting it on.

Perhaps some carving would release some of my useless questions back to where they belonged.

I informed my mother that I would be in the Uchiha training ground with the most trees and brought my shorter whip and my kunai and shuriken.

I cut down a branch with my sharpest kunai and began peeling the bark five inches from one end. I then sharpened the bark-less end quickly.

I grabbed the crude representation of a medieval sword and experimentally swung it, smiling nostalgically as I did so. Sword-fights with wooden sticks seemed so long ago.

I stabbed it into the ground and then wrapped my whip around it. I pulled back suddenly and with force, causing the sword to go flying behind me.

I put my hand down to my pouch and then whipped my arm out throwing two shuriken at once. They both flew true and impacted into a large tree, close to each other.

I picked my whip back up and began swinging it around cracking and curling it at will, until a tree branch interfered that is.

Something I'd have to work on.

I have come to the realization that whips are far from deadly, the most damage it can do is severe bleeding and poking eyes out, it's next to impossible to remove limbs with it.

That, however, is somewhat beside the point, the point is… Today I get to fight Hiashi.

I stepped into the arena as my stoic dark-haired opponent walked in calmly on the opposite end.

"I look forward to a good match, Hyuuga-san."

"I will not hesitate, Uchiha-san." Well, that's good and all, but Jyuuken strikes are not allowed in the academy.

"Begin!"

I took the academy stance and my opponent took a modified version of it.

I began the first engagement by charging low with a tackle, with the intention of bringing Hiashi to the ground.

The Hyuuga nimbly dodged to the side but had no method of countering me. I stood up straighter and attempted a punch.

Hiashi used his right hand and deflected my strike, countering with his left. I kicked, letting the Hyuuga's attack land as my own did so.

Each of us stumbled back, but he more so. I smirked widely before tripping in the loose dirt of the taijutsu ring, as expected; Hiashi came in with a small axe kick.

The smooth-haired youngster was taken by surprise as I aimed a kick at his open groin. He widened his eyes at my dirty tactics and retreated before great pain came, putting his hands down in a guarding fashion as he did so.

"I didn't realize you were so dishonorable, Uchiha."

"I'm a ninja, even if only in training."

"I see." He lowered into an impressive natural pose.

However he was far to stoic and stringent to lower his guard, so there was no way I would fall for it.

His eyes took a calculating gleam, before the veins around them bulged grotesquely.

"Adults and children! Isn't that over board Hiashi?" I asked.

"I think not, considering your own condition." The Byakugan can see it? Very interesting.

"I don't need such tricks to beat you," I glanced meaningfully at the watchers.

"I see; arrogance." Harsh, although perhaps true.

My one major advantage remains, he won't use Jyuuken strikes in academy spars.

"Get it on or I'll be forced to call the match a draw!" The teacher was right; the academy has limited time for all these spars.

I quickly shifted to the interceptor style and jumped in. Right hook, left straight, spin kick, jump back.

Nothing, the Byakugan really can see 360 degrees. However, it doesn't give the almost predictive powers of the Sharingan.

I jumped forward with an extending kick but Hiashi easily countered.

I'll keep it close then.

I punched and used my elbows, keeping me feet on the ground so that he had no chance to jump back. The speed of the Hyuuga hand was put to the test, and it won out, clearly Hiashi was getting ready to learn that 2, 4, 8… 64 technique.

"I concede; your Byakugan is too much for me." I bowed in surrender as he in return bowed in respect.

Later I saw Hiashi looking at his slightly purple arms in wonder, I smiled at that.

To start making my own jutsu, I needed plenty of chakra, and tons of chakra control.

Well, tons may be an exaggeration but I did need more than I had. So, make up stuff or go with what we know? Tree-walking it is.

Tree-walking can be learned in a few hours so I'm not worried about the ordeal.

I went to where Hiroshi-sensei and I usually trained and picked a tree to abuse. Chakra in the feet, to stick to the tree; Kakashi said that a running start would help, and I doubt he'd sabotage his cute genin's training.

The kunai to mark distance would be forgone though.

One awkward landing later and I was second guessing; it'd be much easier to just wait.

No! Giving up is for wimps, I should not admit that I am, indeed, a wimp. Perception is ninety-nine percent of reality they say.

Run at the tree put one foot, golly half my trouble stems from the fact that when I run at a tree I put just one foot on and then jump off. I never knew I'd be conquering this old habit.

But if I stuck the first foot on then I could not jump off, this would be my goal.

Three hours and some wounds later I had done enough to satisfy myself and I went in for supper.

One dinner of yakitori later and I was in my library.

I looked through book titles and scrolls but couldn't find anything that I hadn't read that interested me.

Perhaps some wandering was in order.

I exited the house; the days were plenty long so I had at least two hours left before dark.

It's never struck me before but I'm actually quite high strung aren't I? I notice when people in the crowded streets of Konoha walk within fifteen feet of me.

The percent of ninja is quite high in Konoha, one in seven persons are shinobi. Grim faced war veterans and cheerful youngsters, scarred but still not jaded middle aged men, patriots and…

Pale skin, dark hair, yellow eyes; where do I recognize that from? I got it, only one person answers that description, Orochimaru.

Had he started his experiments yet? On that note, you can't really blame him for his rather distasteful methods. He had no god, no higher law, and no constitution to prevent it.

Indeed, in a secular view what he did was even commendable; he preserved higher learning and advanced technology after all.

As far as I know Konoha has no bill of rights, if it does then he would be punishable by law, if not… then no.

The same could hardly be said for Danzo. He was a thief and an old man set in non-progressive ways, truly an abomination to liberals. Indeed, he made no move to 'better mankind' instead he was a long term visionary, a nationalist so whole-heartedly for his home country that he would listen to none but himself.

Orochimaru was… looking at me. He still wore a jonin flak jacket at this point.

I narrowed my eyes back at him; I doubt he'd even begun his delving into the mysteries of his body possession technique. Still, one could never be too careful.

He moved over in my direction, "Kukuku, you're the one they call the next genius? Interesting."

"Why would you be interested in me, Orochimaru-sama?" My eyes were still narrowed and I was ready to draw my kunai at the slightest provocation.

"A doujutsu is always interesting, especially with such a curious wielder, we'll meet again, Nanashi-kun." He left me and as I watched his back he walked away in his own slithering style.

Well, Orochimaru knew about me then? He won't try anything for now, he's a discreet person. Well, until he's ready for the big reveal, then his arrogance can kill him.

It seems Jiraiya is not in the village and I'm not going to be bothered to ask after Tsunade.

When you think about it it's really quite remarkable. Shikaku is around my age, which means many years shall pass before the big stuff happens, not to take away from the 3rd shinobi war, but the 4th is so much more.

Perhaps I can prevent Naruto being born? No, there is no need, all I need to do is help out Nagato so that he does not become Pein, and stop Obito from getting crushed by rocks.

Not that it'd be so simple, I was unaware of the events surrounding both happenings, going to Ame and killing Hanzo before Yahiko died could work, but I was nowhere near strong enough to try that.

As for Obito… sometime when he was on Minato's team and in the 3rd shinobi war, nearer to the end, was all I knew.

So no, not at all simple, I would need a capable sensei, someone as strong as a Sannin.

This was a serious dilemma, only about five available people qualified for that.

Danzo, the Sannin themselves, and Hatake Sakumo, Sarutobi was unavailable because of his duties as Hokage.

The Edo Tensei could provide me with the Shodaime or Tobirama but I was unable and unwilling to use it.

Being on Minato's team with Jiraiya could work, but I doubt if I really want that. Orochimaru… he could be useful, very useful, but Tsunade, there was no way I would be learning advanced medical techniques, if I could get ahold of Kabuto's method then I would be happy.

And Sakumo, he was most certainly plausible; I knew little of him, not nearly enough to fill me with bias so I was more than prepared to study under him. Danzo was extremely unlikely, he was probably far too busy founding Root and playing around politically to take a genin team.

However, it was far more likely that I'd be landed with a no-name jonin that isn't weak at all but is in no way famous. The library would be my friend after I had learned all I could from Hiroshi-sensei.

I walked back home, I had not spent more than an hour in the city, judging by the position of the sun in the sky.

The most diverse and all-around ninja art had to be fuinjutsu. I'm forgetting something though aren't I?

I am already aware that few have talent and fewer still have the patience for it. I'm also aware of the possibility of destroying myself with seals.

In fact, I have a fairly good understanding of the whole situation if you ask me. So what was it?

Uzumaki seal-masters… Mito! That's what I was forgetting, Mito was still alive. If I could become her unlikely student, could I learn more than otherwise possible?

Still, I find it hard to believe that she'd train me, an Uchiha of all things, in the sealing arts. She probably dislikes the clan as a whole since the entire thing with Madara.

Nevertheless, I would not admit defeat until it was sealed with Mito's own insignia. I would find the red-head and ask her, if she refused, so be it.

It took me little more than five minutes to learn that Mito lived outside Konoha proper, almost two hours walk away in fact. Probably a precaution, since if the seal failed the Kyuubi would be released. Or was it because Konoha held only sad memories for her?

I steeled myself and went out to the country house she lived in.

As embarrassing as it may be, I walked straight into the barrier that surrounded the place.

Soon the owner came out of the house, wearing talismans upon both ears as adornment.

"Are you lost, child?" She may have been old but her beauty had not yet faded, her hair still as red as it had been many years before.

"I," I composed myself, "I am not, Mito-sama. My name is Uchiha Nanashi and I came seeking instruction in the sealing arts."

"Of your own will or because your family sent you?"

"Of my own will." I held her gaze.

"I have no interest in passing on my secrets boy, let alone to an Uchiha."

"I see, I shall return tomorrow to see if you have reconsidered."

"I won't."

"It matters little, I said I shall return and so I shall, good-day Mito-sama."

I had been prepared for it to go worse, but this was not unexpected.

If Mito had no intention of passing on her arts –and I doubt she lied- then what of the Kyuubi? When Kushina died, what then?

Had she truly thought that the little brat I went to school with could calm Kurama's great hate? It seems I am not the only hopeful one.

"Hey clan-boy, ready to lose again?"

"That was two days ago and I lost to Hyuuga Hiashi-san."

"The other clan brat? Yeah, that's what I meant."

"It seems you over-estimate the class Uzumaki-san, I can count those who could best me in this room on one hand."

I stepped to the side as dirty water poured down on where I usually sat.

"Really, Uzumaki? That's the third time; conversation to distract me won't help you." I nimbly jumped up as an arrow with some kind of putrid material on the end whizzed past.

"Che!" She looked away, her red hair swaying lazily behind her as she did so.

"Namikaze! Look out when you sit down." I informed Minato as he somewhat sleepily walked in.

"Huh? Oh."

The same dirty water that tried to soak me was also avoided by the blond.

"You ruin everything all the time, eye-freak."

"Are my eyes freakily good or are you just scared of unnatural eyes?"

"I ain't scared of your freaky eyes, clan-boy."

"Then I stand answered, my eyes are freakily good." Word games are easier and more fun than pranks any day.

"Stop arguing….." The teacher trailed off looking at each student's forehead in disbelief. Okay, maybe pranks are fun to.

On every single students forehead there were the words 'I hate you sensei', at least, in the said teacher's eyes.

"Sensei? What's wrong?" Mebuki was the speaker.

Aoki Yoshiro rubbed his eyes and blinked twice and then looked at my almost smirking face. He narrowed his eyes and called, "Kai!"

"Uchiha Nanashi, detention!"

"What for?"

"For placing a genjutsu on your teacher."

"I didn't do any such thing, and I will be most offended for the sake of students everywhere if you punish me for something you cannot even say I did." Ok that was a blatant lie, but I got to practice some time.

"You're the only kid here who can even _use_ genjutsu."

"And how do you know that this so-called genjutsu was placed on you inside this room!?"

"I… I don't."

"So do I still have detention?"

"No, you weaseled out of this one, but I'll be watching you."

I made the most righteously offended and disbelieving face I could possibly muster, aiming it straight at the almost-sorry teacher. Making faces is super effective!

It was a harmless prank anyway, unless he's one of those dudes who commit suicide when idiot kids say, 'I hate you!'

History was first today, and then a taijutsu lecture, which most kids thought was useless; I found the philosophy and uses of hand-to-hand combat intriguing.

Then was sparring, I was against some no-name that was easily crushed, my thoughts too occupied to show mercy.

School ended, at length, and I immediately made my way to Uzumaki Mito's residence, to ask her opinion now that she had slept on it.

"I have returned for your answer." I informed the eldest red-head I knew of.

"First, come inside where we can talk."

She didn't immediately turn me away, that can only mean good things.

"Why do you wish to know fuinjutsu?"

"I want to expand my capabilities, I find fuinjutsu intriguing."

"What is your view of it?"

"There is no view of it; if one views it in a manner they limit its potential." Hopefully a philosophical answer can impress her. Though the fact I took a whole fifteen seconds to make that up won't.

"How much do you know about fuinjutsu, Uchiha child?"

"The wise man knows that he knows nothing, I may not be wise but I know this."

She smiled, "That's all well and good, but how much do you know?"

"It uses Kanji and lines, ink and chakra, sometimes blood, and can seal even tailed beasts, like the one in your gut." If that's not common knowledge I may have just dug my own grave.

"The one in my gut?"

"The Kyuubi."

"I see; I wasn't aware that kids your age were privy to such information."

"I'm not, but I have my methods. In any case, fuinjutsu is easily the most diverse and difficult of the ninja arts."

"Indeed it is, as I said though, I have no intention of passing on my secrets."

"You know too much, don't you? If someone had your skill but no morals… you shudder to think what could be done."

"Yes, that is correct, and so I shall take my knowledge with me to the grave."

"I shall respect your wishes, Mito-sama."

"One little tip for you, don't limit yourself, and by no means limit fuinjutsu."

"I shall remember, live well and farewell, we probably won't meet again." I left, then, disappointed that I could not be taught by the most legendary sealer, but glad I had at least tried.

If I were to learn the art I would need to use the library, if Tenten could use basic fuinjutsu by fourteen, so could I.

I made my way to the Archive, as it was called, to see if they had anything useful for a clan-boy like me.

"Excuse me, librarian, but where can I find some texts on fuinjutsu? My name is Uchiha Nanashi, pleased to meet you."

"Ninja ID?"

"I'm an academy student, I don't have one."

"E-rank texts are all I can show you then, and fuinjutsu is a D-rank skill at the lowest rung."

"I assure you, I am a D-rank ninja, I can demonstrate if you wish."

The man shrugged in a 'lead the way' fashion, obviously willing to make the exception if I succeeded.

"Katon: Great Fireball!" I yelled for the man to hear as I blew a fireball into the sky harmlessly outside.

"How old are you, kid?"

"Seven," I answered innocently.

"I tell you what kid; I'll let you look over any D-rank stuff you like."

"Thank you very much, sir."

"Not an issue, Uchiha-kun, I'll write you up a permission slip."

We went back inside and he grabbed a blue credit card looking thing and wrote my name on it, took a picture, and then signed it himself.

"Have fun kid, and don't blow yourself up."

"I will take your kind words to heart."

I found what I was looking for, a book on fuinjutsu, D-rank of course.

_Fuinjutsu for Dummies_, somebody has a sense of humor.

I checked it out for a few ryo and took it home.

"What book is that, otouto?"

"Fuinjutsu book, Nii-san."

"First whips and now sealing, what next, a flying technique?"

"That's a really swell idea, flying sounds good; in fact, I bet I know a way to make it work." In theory flying in a chakra dense world should be easy with enough chakra, simply convert chakra to fire nature and use that like a jet engine. Or use wind chakra on your body directly to elevate yourself.

"You and your science bunk."

"Just because I know a way doesn't mean the way is easy, it won't be happening for a while." I mean really, the Land of Sky needed the whole Zero-tails to work, although a one-man scheme should take much less effort.

Plus, I'm not even sure if the Land of Sky even existed in Naruto-verse, could be a product of fan-fiction. But I doubt it.

**Two Months Later**

The fuinjutsu book, while thick, only provided scant knowledge about the subject as a whole. But it was useful, I have learned that fuinjutsu is more complicated than High-school as a collective heap, and biology sucks.

The book, however, did highlight how to make a storage scroll, something very useful, as well as the common explosive note as examples.

Making chakra ink was taught and with my Sharingan it was easy to copy the explosive note and make another. Let it never be said that my explosive notes don't work.

By far the most interesting, however, was the fact that you could make your own seals, though great care was needed, by linking together Kanji. A practical example is this, right here in my hand.

My first original seal it stores only water. Liquid storage has always been an issue with the common storage scroll, but behold! With this, my glorious invention, even storing blood for times of war shall be made possible!

Now it's time to test it.

I presented my scroll to the river that was near Konoha, activating it and plunging it underwater as I did so. Lo and behold, the water that came in contact with the seal disappeared.

I removed the scroll from the river and stopped channeling chakra to it. With this Suiton users everywhere shall worship me!

The scroll started to fall apart, turning as liquid as the water it contained.

Well, perhaps they won't.

Still, it did work, if only temporarily, and I am unharmed so that can only be a good thing. I only need a way to stabilize the scroll itself while not interfering with the liquid storing function.

Aha! A stability seal somewhere else on the scroll, that should do it.

Unfortunately this also yielded lack of success, the scroll took forever to open and close and way too much chakra to be useable.

But it worked, and that is what counts. I'll keep a storage scroll for water on me at all times, never know when you'll need to douse a fire.

While I was eager to sell the scroll, I knew it would be useless to Konoha as it is; the number of Suiton users was too low and the chance of Kiri getting their hands on it too high.

Perhaps if I limited the stability seal more?

As it turned out when I linked twelve limiters to the stability seal I could store about twenty liters of water at once without the scroll turning to liquid and releasing its contents. This was optimum as the delays were, at this point, negligible.

The chakra cost was still a little high for my tastes, but anybody could handle it.

The fact that the more water the scroll contained the more prone it was to becoming like water opened up a serious fact: fuinjutsu did not make sense.

However it might be more proper to say, "Fuinjutsu makes its own sense, you just have to understand it." Which is easy to say but hard to do, reason being; fuinjutsu is no ninja art; it is its own thing, not created by man, only discovered by him.

Perhaps writing was originally only used for seal-making? It's intriguing but irrelevant.

This all took ten days of testing to discover. And, looking back, I can see why fuinjutsu is unpopular; it takes hours to create a single reliable seal and days to create a simple new one. It's known that Minato spent four years on the Hiraishin, and I'm fairly sure he had Tobirama's notes for the technique.

To the great consternation of our class, a certain orphan blond is rising up the hierarchy. The Hyuuga particularly seem concerned by his rising strength.

Our red-haired 'life of the classroom' however was less than impressed.

And one, two, three, "You think you're something, huh, worthless blond? I tell you what; I'll show you your place right about now."

She seemed serious, if her gait as she walked over to Minato is any method of telling.

"What is my opinion on fighting in the classroom, Uzumaki?!"

"Fighting shall be conducted outside in a proper manner, or is for combatting enemies in war time, sir!"

"That's right, and what is my expressed view of beating down fellow academy students?"

"Beating down shall not occur; rather, organized spars with a proctor of some sort shall take place."

Aoki really beat this into her huh, guess she needs it; he does seem the drill-sergeant type I guess. Still, how much detention did he give her to make her remember this junk verbatim?

"Good. Sit down class." Yoshiro has steadily become less cheerful and stricter – like military – starting this year. Must be to get it through thick genin skull, we don't allow insubordination; I mean this _is_ an _army _of professional killers we're talking about.

I rolled my shoulder as I sat down, putting my feet up on the desk. It's out of character for this me, who is always polite to everyone. But hey, I have, or had, a large rebellious streak. I won't say a mile wide because that would be disparaging.

We also have the so called 'killing classes' in which you get lectured about taking life and the best way to do it. Most of the kids write it off but Mebuki took it so badly she looks queasy every time we have lectures.

It seemed like the kind of thing Tobirama would have implemented, I like the guy already.

Still today has none of that kind of thing, instead we have manners and civilian acting. Which sounds useless at first glance – and most kids here are the first glance only type – but it's actually quite useful, since it doubles as a way to spot who is a shinobi.

Today is also our 3rd kunai and shuriken throwing contest, the only reward is bragging rights unfortunately.

Kunai first, I'll be somewhere around third to last. Shin'Ichi got 4/5 and both the Hyuuga and Minato got 4.5/5 with one whole being a fatal hit and a half being a non-fatal wound.

The rest of the class mostly received 3/5, give or take one.

Isao got a three kill hits and two wounds, making his total four. And now I was up.

"Clan-boy, bet you'll miss two!"

I pressed my tongue against my bottom lip, keeping it contained within my mouth. It seems a demonstration is in order.

Stay humble, even the best can miss, and shoot! Two in the head, one in the neck, and two in the heart.

"Thank you very much." I closed my eyes and gave a head-bow to the entire class.

Still, if I were given seven kunai I would miss one out of them.

Kushina stepped up to the throwing line, the kunai I had used already returned to me.

Her anger will cloud her aim at this rate. A hot temper is truly the curse of fighters. She landed all five in the chest still, unluckily for her, two kunai missed kill zones so she ended with four out of five.

The shuriken went more poorly for me; I ended with only 3.5/5 while Minato got a lucky –by his own words- 5/5 putting him into the lead for shuriken throwing of this class.

While Kushina is still an irate red-head I dread how bad she'd be without her friend Mikoto, said black-haired individual was an Uchiha and something of an older sister figure to Kushina.

Curiously, Hiashi and Hizashi seem to have drawn closer to each other.

I went home that day less convinced of my ability to stay the top of my class next year and even this one. Maybe it's because the academy doesn't include my whip-wielding abilities and new-found fuinjutsu skills? Or is it perhaps because my age advantage is plateauing finally? No matter, pride and arrogance do not befit me and superiority is a sure-fire way to breed such things.

**AN: Kukuku… maybe the plot should start picking up next time, or should I do a massive time skip? You, little reader, are in the palm of my hand, I can even insert you as on OC… but I won't.**

**Chapter 5 done, yay, hopefully you guys like this one. My own concerns: Hopefully I'm not coming across as a Gary you-know-what while still conveying that I'm not a wimpo. Jonin-sensei suggestions are welcome, future skills advice will be considered, and rest assured I READ ALL REVIEWS. Please make more for me to read.**

**Sincerely,**

**Iamwhononofyouare**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the cannon characters therein.**

Chapter Six

I smiled nostalgically as I returned to the Academy for my 3rd year therein; my second year had been interesting, and a learning experience; now I felt like I was on the home stretch to becoming a genin.

Not that I'll be graduating way early, that could put Nii-san's position as clan heir in jeopardy; and I have no interest in leading the clan directly, though there are benefits. For one, I would be able to spend most of my time within the village, spending time with sons, daughters, and nephews. And maybe even nieces, if my appearance in this timeline has changed more than I thought.

But truly, the position of Uchiha clan head was about as attractive to me as the Hokage's hat, I.E. not very.

The reason I have no desire to be Hokage is simple, I've seen Sarutobi's face in person. That tired and haggard look while still cheerful and smiling was enough to drive me away from the post forever.

Not that with my knowledge I couldn't help Konoha with becoming a better village, but I had no real desire to do that either. I was not so naïve as to believe that Konoha was 'the good guy' and everyone else the 'bad guy'.

Indeed, Konoha's ninja had lead Akatsuki, killed thousands and experimented in ways that only Sasori could even hope to match. And he did it with dead bodies, which in my esteemed opinion, is no problem at all, the fact that he killed people to experiment on, however, was plain playing god.

Not that we don't all play god at least some time in our miserable years.

Gah, I'm going on a thinking rant again, where is Kushina when you need her?

"Oi, clan-boy!"

Right there.

"Yes, Uzumaki-san?"

"I am going to beat you into the ground!"

"You can try, and you can fail." I've had that saying for years, can't believe I'm only using it now.

"I bet you can't even float in the sky."

"I regret to inform you… that you are absolutely right, I am unable to 'float in the sky', Uzumaki-san." I kept my face carefully blank and my voice ever so slightly goading.

"See! Even genius eye-freak over here can't do something!"

"Everyone has a limit, not to sound petulant," Although I _do _have some ideas on how to pull off flight with chakra.

"Well you did sound petulant, petulant clan-boy."

If I said anything back I would look irreparably childish, so I merely gave a slight nod and sat with the Hyuuga twins.

"Hiashi-san, Hizashi-san, how are you two today?"

"I am feeling well, thank you."

"My health is impeccable." Hizashi finished.

"I see; I hope that the home situation is good, not to pry."

"Indeed, Father has advanced both our training's and is in amiable condition."

"I am glad to hear that, Hiashi-san. And how is your mother, Hizashi-san?"

"She is well, but still pays more attention to Hiashi." The two are close and do not resent each other but still, I am amazed by how open with me they are about the home condition.

"Bias cannot be destroyed I suppose," I replied politely, I couldn't say much else without crossing into dangerous and very Hyuuga territory.

The relationship between me and the Hyuuga twins is an intriguing one, while we are tacit friends, we are also rivals, a natural result of the Hyuuga-Uchiha 'my doujutsu is best' thing.

"Good morning maggots!" Yoshiro really has gotten more severe over the last year.

"Good morning Sensei!"

"Furuya dropped out so you won't be seeing her this year."

I see; Mebuki dropped out did she? I wonder why, not that I ever acquainted myself with her.

One of the boys in class hung his head. A budding friendship? A one-sided crush? It doesn't matter in the end.

"I expect the rest of you to make a real showing, no slacking allowed in this class."

"Yes sir, Aoki sir!" Need I say it again? Kushina wasn't the only one to get stomped into place; the whole class got a taste of sensei.

"I want this year to be a real learning experience for all of you." He smirked and cracked his knuckles, a simple, if effective, intimidation tactic.

"I don't think we need to go over the rules, so we'll get right to it. When I call your name, you come up, and without a single peep you'll receive a schedule."

He called in alphabetical order, starting from the top. Once we had all gotten one he continued.

"If you lose it, you will not get a replacement so, if you can't keep it safe! MEMORIZE IT!"

Most of the kids swallowed nervously and mutely nodded.

"Now for the obstacle course, to determine class placements, that's outside to your left."

The entire class wanted to groan at this point, while my no-longer-new diligent personality recognized the benefits, my lazier side wanted nothing to do with it, but we kept it in because of the knowledge of what would follow.

The obstacle course was a reusable, non-lethal, half a mile of torture, every five feet or less there was some manner of pain waiting to be unleashed, and every six months six vindictive genin teams redid the whole thing.

Fortunately, unless you really screwed up all you got was a couple bruises. It was also wonderful competition however, since because of the length of the track they sent in a new student very five minutes no matter what.

This resulted in a system among the students where each kid was graded by how much time he was ahead of the guy behind him.

Suffice to say, plenty of kids got so shamed because of this that they willingly took the course so that it wouldn't happen again. Because it 'encouraged personal ability' the teachers made no move to alter the state of affairs.

The current best time record holder was Hizashi, a full three seconds faster than his brother. Next came myself, thirty seconds behind Hizashi, after that it was Kushina, she took twenty-one seconds longer than I did.

In any case, as last year's top student I had the dubious honor of going first. I yawned and clacked my teeth twice as I stepped up to the starting line.

"Begin!" The mid-height Aoki yelled almost insistently.

I took off at a mad sprint, ducking under two swinging logs and over a pit filled with painful rocks. It seems the course got more dangerous this year, time to show off.

I activated my now two-tomoe Sharingan and continued, easily picking up trip wires and pitfalls with my enhanced vision. I lazily stepped, jumped, and hopped over the traps until I came to the most unique of the new additions, synthetic rapids.

This would slow anybody down, but it's not expressly against the rules to go around it, problem is it might be faster to go through it.

I _did _decide to show off right? Through it, it is.

My Sharingan still draining chakra I carefully made my way across the very real, if man-made, roaring waters. They really spend a lot on the Academy huh; guess that's why tuition is so high.

The 'river' crossed, I almost got swept off my feet the fact that the ground under me moved away causing this disaster. I picked myself up from my clumsy stumble and charged ahead.

The course seems longer this year, I slid under a low-hanging beam, perhaps 3rd years are expected to be good? Of course they are; I dodged around a clumsy dummy samurai with a wooden sword.

Finally, I exited the training run, right at the location I had begun, only on the other side.

"Congratulations Uchiha, you are the current record holder for this year's class." Yoshiro mocked.

The rest of the kids laughed, amused that the so called genius Uchiha had taken so long on the course.

Their laughs turned quiet shortly and soon whispering started, Hiashi had gone in after me so there was no way he could be this much behind. In fact, Hiashi did not emerge until five minutes and three seconds had passed beyond the time I had come out.

"Is the course harder this year, Hyuuga-san?"

"Yes," Was his brief reply.

Several widened eyes met this statement, conveying the owners' true feelings of 'it was crazy hard last year!'

At length the whole class had gone through, the ones after Hizashi looking more or less disheveled.

Minato in particular had looked bad, though I suppose I don't spare much attention to anybody else, save the Hyuuga and Kushina.

Then we had gambling lessons, to everyone's great surprise. Apparently, being a gambler was a common cover for Konoha shinobi. Although I get the impression it was later removed from the academy since it was all luck.

Still, knowing when to fold or go all in was a skill that all ninja needed.

Poker was the game played, thank goodness, so it went alright. The teachers handed 'Academy tokens' to all the kids at the start of the game, apparently these tokens could actually buy you stuff from the Academy. This added a sense of realism to the game.

After poker it was acting, you picked a class-mate and acted them out for a set period; it could be quite confusing, since it was all the kids at the same time, with henge applied.

School ended half-an-hour later than usual, apparently this was the new normal, and I left for home worn out but smiling.

Being a kid was great.

I have not discovered any revelations in fuinjutsu since my experiment with liquid storage last year.

This was all rather disconcerting to me, but with months of nothing I have turned my attention back to my senbon launcher.

I went to the rust-yard and found a piece of piping the exact same as last times, though this one was considerably longer, and took it over to the blacksmith, who I asked to cut it in half. He made some foolish statement about how he was above cutting pipes in two but I refused to pay him more.

I would love to cut it myself but I had not the saw needed for such work.

Then I had him make me a cylinder of very thin metal that would fit inside. Also commanding him to make a protrusion, that could be pressed down with minor effort. When I was sure the competent fellow understood my needs, I left him to it, counting out the cost as I did so.

I gave him half in advance, as was standard in crafting society, and left, to return in two days.

Back at the blacksmith I asked if my order was ready. The man said it was and handed me my things, I thanked him with words and money and then left, excited to see if I could pull this off.

I removed the pressure chamber wood from my mark one senbon launcher and moved it over to mark two, the end filling pieces already prepared; I inserted them in each new construct.

Now for the wait.

Class followed the same general pattern as the first day, though P.E was not always the obstacle course, naturally.

Acting and gambling remained as a subject. Math was upgraded to more complicated things, stuff that could actually be used by active ninja.

Kushina was as she always is, "Clan-boy, I heard you lost yesterday."

"My loss was only token," A brilliant pun if I do say so myself.

"So I heard, betting it all on a pair of jacks!" She began her offensive cackle.

"It was a risk I was willing to take, I lost."

"And whatcha gonna do when it's your life on the line, Uchiha?"

"How morose, I doubt I'd make the same choice, I value my life more than my money."

"I knew it, a coward eye-freak."

"I am indeed a coward; if you'll excuse me, Uzumaki-san." Perhaps she has changed somewhat.

The red-head watched with open mouth as I left her standing there, I know I'm a coward. Doesn't mean I like being called one.

Though to be fair, gambling with your life is a fool's choice. Still, I am a coward, so scared of blood and guts I can't even behead a chicken, or gut a pheasant.

Maybe that should be next on my things-to-do list, yes, I think so.

"Haha, I need to butcher an animal." Let it never be said that I don't follow through.

"Eh, why, Nana-chan? You can buy meat at the store."

"That's not the point, I dislike blood so I have decided to conquer my fear, what better way than to butcher an animal?" It should be noted that I am completely okay with my own blood, but other people's or critter's blood can get to me.

"Aren't you a little young for that kind of thing anyway?" Here's the problem, to my mother I am still little 'Nana-chan'.

"I'll be a ninja in two years or less at the current rate."

"I see, in that case let's ask your father." Why such a big deal about killing, skinning, and gutting a rabbit or some such thing?

Nevertheless, the issue was put on hold until Father got back from his duties.

I let Mother start the conversation, "Nanashi said he wants to butcher an animal."

"Why?" The Uchiha patriarch asked, turning to me as he did so.

"I want to get over my fear of blood."

"Fear of blood?" He asked with narrowed eyes, "A worthy goal, proceed immediately."

It seems Father dislikes the fact that his child does not like blood to the extent that it is called 'fear'.

"Thank you very much." Now to find the poor critter, shouldn't be too hard, I know some of the clansmen keep chickens.

I checked my scant pile of ryo, praising my penny pincher tendencies as I did so; it would be enough.

I knocked on the door of an Uchiha who owned some fowl.

"Sorry to disturb you so late, but can I buy a chicken?" I asked politely.

"Who's asking?" The man asked as he opened the door.

"Uchiha Nanashi."

"That's all right then, any special needs, kid?"

"Just a living chicken that can bleed, sir."

"Aha, you ain't the first kid who's come for that reason." He picked out a distinctly old rooster.

"Free, more trouble than he's worth at this point."

"Thank you very much." I put my money back in my pocket; I'd need a wallet soon.

"No trouble, good luck."

I grimaced as I got a whiff of the chicken yard smell emanating from the rooster in my arms. Old or not, he was going to die early.

I went to the training ground where Hiroshi-sensei and I still met on week-ends for training, finding a short pole to set my meat on.

I took the now squawking piece of free blood and set it down, holding on to one of its legs.

I wrapped my whip around the poor thing's neck securing the other end to a nearby pole. I pulled on the leg it the opposite direction, stretching the rooster out for the finishing blow.

Grimacing as I pulled out my sharpest kunai I bemoaned the fact I had not an axe.

It would have to do.

A chicken's neck is an amazingly tough thing I mused as the roosters head finally swung free of its body. I held the dead chicken down as it continued its struggling, waiting patiently for the dead body to stop.

Chickens are quite interesting when they have their heads severed, the continued motion a mystery I have yet to dissect.

Now for the hard part; it's lucky the day has plenty of light left as I doubt I can skin the thing in under an hour. Before that though, I need to pluck it.

I almost studiously pulled the feathers from the cooling corpse, sighing at the sheer quantity.

At length, the still draining body was naked completely. I shivered in disgust as I shifted the rear in my direction, rubbing my nose with my right arm as I did so.

Now to stick my hand in there.

In retrospect, while butchering is somewhat disturbing it isn't so bad, though the feeling of being a sort of murderer because you killed something not a bug remains.

Still, I feel almost good about the whole affair, it having gone better than I expected.

I daresay, I think it should be downright mandatory for academy students in the fourth year.

Fortunately, for guys who don't think so, I'm a third year, and I'll probably have forgotten all about it by next year.

With the requisite two weeks drying period over, I inspected my mark two senbon launcher, admiring the blacksmith's handy work as I did so.

I experimentally popped down one of the protrusions, noting with delight that it was almost effortless and that it popped back up just as easily.

My mark-one pressure chamber inserted, I loaded the senbon. I then pointed the contraption up down and all around, nearly gushing over the thing as the senbon stayed put.

Putting both hands on the launcher I compressed chakra, inside the chamber, to the upmost of my ability. Then I pointed the thing side-ways to me and released, the senbon barely exited the launcher, poking out mockingly.

I nearly screamed, what had gone wrong! I carefully pulled the senbon out, then noticing the reason of the problem. The wooden chamber had clearly had too much speed, destroying itself on the double ended projectile it was meant to launch.

Obviously I need a totally metal launcher, as evidenced by the fact that the end stopper had been blown outward to an extent.

This was a disaster, when was the last time I even succeeded at _anything _new and unseen? More than a year ago.

Perhaps a fuinjutsu rifle like I had thought of before? It was worth a shot.

I took the previously used senbon launcher mark-two and disassembled the thing, leaving me with a useable pipe. Rifling the inside would have to wait, for now I needed bullets that'd fit. A visit to my favorite blacksmith is in order it seems.

"Blacksmith-san, I need you to make spheres that'll fit inside the pipe perfectly."

"You need what? Kid, didn't your parents ever tell you to stop playing around with stuff?"

"Never, I see you aren't busy."

"No I'm not…" He slumped his shoulders.

"Now what you'll need to do…" I described the little bullet maker from the movie 'Patriot' and I think the intelligent man understood.

"And once it's made and ready you can just put pieces of lead in."

"I see how it is, kid. Run along."

Still, I doubt an inaccurate musket will threaten shinobi. I like the idea though, even if I'm wasting time.

The academy never fails to surprise me, in one way or another. It turns out that the place has had a _gym _of all things, all this time.

Everything from tread-mills to dumbbells to various rope climbing activities, it was like heaven for dedicated students.

Unfortunately, kids from all years were present and the teachers didn't interfere unless stuff approached maiming.

This is unfortunate because it seems I have some older… admirers.

"You think you're hot, huh? Think that just because you're a clan-brat you can just go anywhere you want?"

"To what are you referring?"

"To what are we referring?" The somewhat pudgy boy asked his friend in a mocking imitation of my own voice.

"What we mean is…" They shared a laugh, "GET LOST!" All three yelled in my face.

"I'm afraid I know my way around Konoha fairly well and don't think I can get lost, perhaps another time." Ok, _that _was somewhat arrogant sounding, but boy did that feel good.

"The look on your guys' faces!" The absolutely dumbfounded face they had worn gave way to a look of unbridled rage. All three lunged at me, as I jumped back to avoid certain pain.

Three minutes later I was sitting on flesh, spitting out pink spit as I did so. I admit; they got in a lucky shot. Two lucky shots actually, I looked down at my slightly bruised left side. For bullies, these guys were good.

Of course, having two years on me helped them somewhat, but I have the interceptor style. It's rather embarrassing that they even touched me.

"Oi, stop moving! Don't you know that chairs are supposed to stay still?" The rest of the kids inside shook their heads in disbelief.

"I'll show you who's a chair m-oof." I stomped the offending face twice more for good measure.

"Ah, that feels good. But you know, this is rather out of character, so I'll let you guys go now." But first… I used the tickling technique on them as I got up, heading in the direction of the rope climbing.

Soon the three boys were literally rolling on the floor laughing, to the amusement of everyone there. Eventually the genjutsu ended and they panted, recovering sorely depleted oxygen stores.

I climbed up my rope with gusto, back-flipping off when I could no longer keep advancing.

At length I had had enough, so I claimed a treadmill and ran for all I was worth. Which, in my esteemed opinion, is quite a lot.

It seems I put too much effort into running, if the difficulty I am having walking home is any indication. Nevertheless, I can't build muscle if I don't try. After eating supper I went to my room, too tired to read, and went straight to bed.

Perhaps I should buy some weights? I think my body can handle it at this point.

Seventy, a rather impressive number if I do say so myself; in push-ups that is. A long way off from 300, but I'm getting there.

As it stands, I'm the student of the year, and while Hiashi is quite good, only the genius of Minato really threatens that position. Kushina, however, places no stock in class rankings it seems, mercilessly taunting him, and even crushing him in taijutsu spars when he accepts her challenges; which, more often than not, he does.

"I want to see three of each of you!" Aoki yelled without warning, he often did this now, telling us to give him forty in the middle of a lecture and similar.

I preformed the bunshin, making two illusory copies of myself.

"I want to hear a high five, no asking friends for help on this one." That's new, but impossibly simple, I slapped my hands together twice, for effect.

It was a simple mind game, first he makes you create clones that aren't solid, and then he tells you to high five audibly. No rule that you can't do it on your own self without clones though.

The Hyuuga twins saw a different loop-hole, high fiving each other instantly and without any words.

Once everyone had completed the assignment we were returned to our seats.

"Who remembers the name of the second Tsuchikage?"

"Mu."

"Who knows the term for Kiri's Kage?"

"Mizukage," That was Minato, interesting.

"Who can tell me when the next war will break out?"

I raised my hand, "Within the next twelve years."

"What makes you so sure, Uchiha?"

"I could tell you, but it'd go way over your head."

"Try me."

Ugh, that was stupid of me, now I have to think of a reason.

"Because the hidden villages each believe themselves to be superior, eventually one of them will make a move on neutral ground, resulting in a skirmish which gets blown out of proportion until its full-blown war. Or else, one of the villages will outright invade a different one, causing immediate embroilment." Good thing I have a water bottle; that was quite the speech.

"How astute, indeed, war will break out in your life-times kids, so be ready." Aoki sported a wicked grin as he said so.

I chuckled as I looked at my cards, causing the other players to look at me appraisingly. The chuckles increased in volume as I knew that the other's called my bluff, too bad for them I'm bluffing that I'm bluffing.

Shin'Ichi put in ten tokens, raising by five, with narrowed eyes.

I put in my own ten, not willing to raise the stakes just yet. By the end of the round betting was up to nine-teen just to check.

I laid onto my face an obviously faked grin as I went all-in. While everyone 'knew' I wasn't good for it they weren't so sure about each other. In the end, two of the six folded and the rest went all-in.

"Club straight, 7-jack," I announced proudly, easily defeating the rather mundane hands of the rest.

Gambling was stupid, really stupid, but fun. Not when the stakes were real money though; then I folded right away. I've said it before, I'm a penny pincher.

Next was taijutsu, no spars today, however. Merely instruction and correction, you went through the kata's and teachers went through, telling you of errors and even using you as an example for the class. Which could be ultra-embarrassing if you were the example of what not to do.

Fortunately, the teachers rarely bothered me, knowing I knew exactly what I was doing. Not that I was the exception, by now most of the kids knew what to do, only they forgot sometimes, or got lazy.

"Uchiha-san, when do you suppose they'll teach us something new?" Hizashi asked me, mostly as a conversation starter no doubt.

"Like a technique?"

"Yes."

"Never, we're already introduced to the academy three; from here on out it'll be theory and non-chakra stuff. Like the poker."

"I see; why do you believe as much?"

"Most academy kids aren't ready for more, plus I think jonin-sensei don't like it when their kids know way more."

"Interesting." Yes, my friend, it really is.

"Still, nothing saying you can't look up all the E-rank stuff you want at the library."

"I see, not much that ninja use is actually E-rank though."

"No it's not, but it's fairly easy to convince the library man to give you a D-rank pass."

"Oh?"

"I speak from experience, just impress the guy a little and boom, D-rank. C-rank stuff you have to be a real ninja with an ID to get at though."

"Makes sense, thank you very much, Uchiha-san."

"It was no trouble Hizashi-san."

I sighed as I drank the last of the broth from the rooster I had butchered, it was almost nostalgic now.

To explain, I felt really bad for killing a chicken for no reason than to soak myself in its blood so after I had washed it and skinned it I made some broth with the meat. The meat itself was way too tough for a clan-boy like me so I had chicken broth only. I sealed it up in my liquid storage scroll to keep it safe and fresh, and then drank some whenever I felt like it.

Now, I've run out, all too soon.

And so, with the broth all gone, my self-imposed dead-line has been met. I shall now go buy weights, not as much as Lee had, to be sure, but enough to make my muscles do some work.

Buying weights was actually incredibly easy, seeing as it's rather popular in a ninja town like this. Strapping them on was harder, if still elementary.

But now I see why weight training isn't more popular than it already is, it throws everything way off.

My kunai still hit the target, if farther than where I aimed than they should, but the shuriken… way off sometimes. Like a whole two feet off, which might not sound like much, but ninja are precision fighters.

Nonetheless, for the added muscle mass I shall continue. Now for protein! I wonder; do they have protein powder here?

"Welcome to Konoha General Store east, how may I help you?"

"Do you guys carry protein powder?"

"Of course, two aisles to the left from the far wall."

I am amazed; Naruto-verse is so messed up, such a mix of modern and ancient that it's crazy. It works for me though.

Let's see… Miso flavor? This really is crazy. Vanilla or chocolate please. Aha! Chocolate here I come.

"That'll be twenty ryo."

Stingy! I sullenly handed over the money, toting the huge cylinder of protein as I walked home. Needless to say, I regretted not waiting on the weights by the end of the journey.

Now let's see here… milk, perfect. Fridges are so convenient; I stirred my now chocolate protein milk, watching the colors blend with faux interest.

As I drank I swished the mixture in my mouth, not bad. I finished the glass, draining the dregs until the very end, I then put in some tap water, swirling the glass and drinking the diluted milk as a finisher.

After washing out my cup I hauled the marginally lighter container to my room, stuffing it in a corner thereof.

The next day, I paid a visit to my blacksmith friend, "You done yet, sir?"

"Yeah yeah, I was done yesterday."

"I see; I apologize for the trouble."

"Never mind that, you going to buy some lead with that or are you coming here every time you need more?"

"I'll buy some lead, the cheapest."

"It's all the same to me."

"Forty ryo kid, no arguments."

"Forty? I'll need to save for months now, honestly." I paid the man and took my goods, grumbling about greedy blacksmiths the whole while.

Forty may not seem like a lot but to a kid like me, it's everything.

Back at home, I filled my chicken-skin bag with bullets. Now though, I was out of money, so stopping up the end would have to wait, on second thought; it's probably easier to just make the blacksmith forge me a new barrel.

Wasting hundreds on little projects like this will be the death of me, seriously. For now though, I need to find the method I'm going to use to propel my bullets. Gun powder could work, but it's a dead giveaway. Fuinjutsu would be ideal, but it's going to take time to design a working seal.

With the money I have now, making a reusable seal is impossible, so explosive tag? Problem is, I have no idea how to compress seals and sticking an entire note down the barrel is out. Maybe if I just made it the most diminutive I could? It's worth a shot.

With my Sharingan active I looked over the instructions for the explosive note, taking in the look of the seal especially.

Then on a little piece of paper, around 1/12 of the size of a regular explosive note I wrote the seal carefully with a tiny quill.

I held the tag up to the sun, checking it over for mistakes. Seal-work is like carving, one mistake and the whole thing is ruined.

"Katsu!" I yelled from a good fifteen feet away; an audible bang greeted my cry and a blade of grass went flying.

I went over and inspected the damage, not bad, too bad it took thirty minutes to make the thing. That's horrible, for all the good a gun that takes thirty minutes to make ammo for is, I might as well shoot my own foot!

I needed a way to mass produce the tags; unfortunately, there are not short cuts in fuinjutsu. Which meant that the gun would be nothing more than a hobby, at best.

I felt like pulling my hair out, the last thing that went well was buying weights.

I found my short whip and went outside to the training ground; perhaps some whipping would take my mind of things.

In short order I had worked up a sweat, lashing out with an unconcerned frown. I began to sing in English as my spirits rose with the workout, ignoring my new accent that had went unnoticed.

Really, it's been way to long since I used my original language, the L's come out funny and it sounds somewhat wrong. At least I still remember how to write in English.

On a side note, it's amazing how long songs last in your memory; music really is a power that crosses worlds. Heh, it really does; I smiled as I continued long past supper time finally going back in when I noticed Fugaku staring at me.

"What?" I asked him as I walked by.

"You were singing…"

"So?"

"You never sing."

"I guess I don't, eh? Maybe I should again sometime."

"Sing in intelligible words next time, otouto."

"They are intelligible, just not around here." Fugaku simply shook his head, following after me to the house.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: It's actually just saying I don't own Naruto, but it's **_**called **_**Disclaimer**

Chapter Seven,

I am not proud of myself, indeed, I am distinctly aware that both Itachi and Kakashi wer- will be-more genius then I.

I am, however, proud of Fugaku, for the reason that he recently passed the Konoha chunin exams. Now to find a present for him; actually this was his 2nd attempt, so something related to the number two?

"Fugaku-nii, what do you want as your chunin present from me?"

"Want? A challenge, a real chance to test my skills," Ho, quite entranced to be a chunin are we? But I daresay, he is a real adult now, my tiny body stands no chance.

"I doubt I could present even an obstacle to one of Konoha's honored chunin." I gave a mocking bow.

"You like to sell yourself short."

"On the contrary, I would prefer to not sell myself at all, no matter my height." It's amusing to taunt others, though I wouldn't do it with someone I am a stranger to.

"Figure of speech, anyway, how did I do?"

"I think you should be ready to take over clan leadership within eight years."

"That's horribly indirect, how did I do in the chunin exams?"

"You were clearly the strongest contender, I admire your performance." To be frank, I think Fugaku is the most powerful chunin in the village. He is still a proud person though, so he dislikes not being the leader. Hopefully we can curb that portion of his personality, as pride really is a big problem.

"That's more like it, little brother." He answered with a smile.

"Still, don't feel too good about yourself."

"Isn't wisdom a thing for the old?"

"I am old; I've got back pain, even. Anyway, are you going to continue to be an active ninja, or are you joining the police force?"

"Father left the choice to me… I think I'll join the police force." Plus, if he's an MP he'll be home more regularly.

"I agree, that way you can earn a rank and get some experience for when you take over."

"Hn," With a twinge of agreement was his reply.

At this point I am eight-and-a-half, putting Fugaku at fifteen. While late to be promoted to chunin it certainly was not bad for Nii-san, as he has plenty of real experience and skill. Unsurprisingly, Fugaku-nii has 3-tomoe in his Sharingan and a number of powerful fire jutsu in his arsenal.

"How's the academy, otouto?"

"It's good, although the ninjutsu is redundant."

"Of course, you can probably do them with a single hand seal at this point."

"Your praise is heart-warming, I can indeed."

"Let's go eat, kid."

"I would feign offense, but I see no reason to humor you."

After a large meal of Nii-san's favorite, I found myself wishing for a television, or board game. On that note, creating board games was once a thing I did long ago, perhaps this family would appreciate such a gesture? It's worth the couple of hours it takes.

Waving off my family I made the not-so-long journey to my little library, where plenty of paper was available. Tape, was tape a thing in this world, it seemed likely.

I quickly crafted the map for my personal favorite of my creations – though it was not my invention – and then realized I needed pieces for each player. Coins would be the traditional way, but I had no idea if there were more than one kind.

Bah! This whole project was a waste; I was an Uchiha catering to Uchiha. Something like a retractable blade would meet with more success.

I filed away the half-finished game, just in case I wanted it at some point, and abruptly left the room.

I needed a novel to read, life was getting dull, what with all the training, eating, sleeping, and schooling. It's not good for a growing boy like me to have no play in their life.

But, I had a problem, playing was inefficient and served no real purpose, and I hated that. It's of no consequence anyway, the academy even sponsors poker. So, nothing regular, I just needed a single day off.

That would actually be incredibly easy, my afternoons were free anyway, but I used them as self-imposed training hours.

Now to plan what I'm going to actually do. Heh, I know exactly who to go to.

"Nara-kohai, I want to play shogi." Shikaku would be getting me out of my no-play zone today.

"Troublesome, why do you want to?"

"I need something fun to do, you're it."

"Fine by me, just don't complain when you do lose." He immediately began setting up a shogi board that he pulled from nowhere, to no great surprise.

At my request he explained the rules; since I had never actually played _shogi_ this was rather necessary.

I'll be the first to tell you that Nara = smart; but my wounded pride would be the first to admit that I hated losing. Thus, losing to Shikaku was both expected and frustrating, more expected though.

"You win, Shikaku-san." I had only managed to take two non-pawns from him.

I went away, five games the more loser, and twice as depressed, this was not how I intended it to go. What next, an eating contest with Chouza? No, I don't think so; what I needed was to lose some more, but not at an eating contest.

Kushina was as obnoxious as always today, "Oi, clan-brat, I think it's time you learned your place."

"I don't learn my place, I earn it."

"Oh really, I hardly think so, in fact you're such a coward you'd refuse to fight me right here!"

"Indeed I am; I fear Aoki-sensei too much to fight you in the classroom."

"And you should, sit down class."

"Yes, sensei!"

A lecture on the documented uses of kunai followed, to my great interest.

"Hiashi-san, how goes it?" Actually, I'm fairly sure it goes rather poorly; his overall grade has dropped by almost 4% in the last six months.

The pale-eyed Hyuuga glanced at me, "My attention has been devoted to chakra control, almost exclusively."

"Indeed, I'm sure your control must be at least twice as good as my own."

"Your compliment is hardly merited, Uchiha-san."

"I hardly think so; your intelligence is high, so it follows that your chakra control would be." The Hyuuga have a massive advantage in the Byakugan but I think they squander it by using it only for scouting and Jyuuken.

"My own intelligence is surpassed by our own, Uchiha-san, so if anything your control would be superior."

"Ah, but you have a distinct advantage: you can see chakra."

"Indeed, the Byakugan can."

"And so I rest my case, I hope you and your brother still spar."

"Of course, perhaps you wish for a spar yourself?"

"That was my hope, Hiashi-san."

It's somewhat curious that I call him 'Hiashi-san' whereas he calls me 'Uchiha-san' but it's simply to avoid confusion, but since the Hyuuga twins never interact with Isao, they can just call me Uchiha-san.

And now I have a spar with Hiashi lined up, no way are we doing only taijutsu, I guess the rules will be decided on the site.

"Hizashi-san, thank you for agreeing to referee," I thanked the younger brother.

"It is no trouble, Uchiha-san."

"Hiashi-san, rules?"

"No jutsu, only taijutsu and bukijutsu." To explain, bukijutsu refers to pretty much any weapon use. While these both end in 'jutsu' the real _jutsu_ in common circles is nin and genjutsu.

This would be hard; perhaps it's time for a field test for my precious whip? I unsealed it.

Hiashi narrowed his eyes, activating his Byakugan wordlessly, "I am ready, Hizashi."

"I as well, Hizashi-san."

"Then begin!" I quickly raised my right hand, ready to lash out.

Hiashi looked me over and then almost elegantly jumped forward, dodging easily my initial downward swing. I twisted my wrist after him causing the whip to careen in Hiashi's direction once more. Rapidly I lashed in and out, swinging with all my novice skill and keeping the Hyuuga heir very much on the defensive.

After I had lacerated the older twin's arms several times, I began to tire slightly, and he seemed inpatient. Hiashi threw four kunai at an impressive rate and charged in, deflecting my whip with Jyuuken. The chakra covered fingers were completely unharmed as the exceedingly precise Jyuuken knocked my whip away.

That was a weakness I'd have to look into. I jumped back, throwing shuriken and pulling my ninja whip with me in my left hand. Swapping hands back I took a kunai in my left and made a straight shot at Hiashi with the whip, the dangerous tip aggressively speeding towards the Hyuuga.

Hiashi ceased his forward rush, content to let my whip impact nothing but thin air. I brought it back in, ready to do the same once more. My less nimble left hand was meanwhile throwing kunai with all the accuracy it could, which was considerably less than my right hand could manage, another weakness to rectify.

Hiashi had used far less energy than I had so far but even though he was Hyuuga the Byakugan could only be activated so long. As far as I knew even Neji a year after graduation couldn't keep it on for much more than an hour.

This fight had lasted seven minutes so far.

Hiashi was clearly aware that he had limited time to finish this; he also knew I had yet to activate my Sharingan. The Hyuuga took a stance, breathing in and out as I watched, finally he rushed forward, deflecting or dodging all of my attacks with minimal consequence to himself.

I threw away my whip as he rushed past its effective range, drawing a kunai as I did so. The speedy blows were too much for my eyes to catch and I was unable to create distance, in a few seconds I felt pain almost all over and fell limply to the ground.

"Why did you not use your Sharingan?"

"Who says I have one?" Let it never be said that I revealed my ultimate advantage to the academy, although Hiashi was 95% sure I had it.

"You do, it's obvious."

"Oh, how so?"

"Your chakra network in the eyes is different from Isao-san's; I can say with certainty that he does not have the Sharingan, so it must be you."

"The Byakugan really does see everything, doesn't it?"

He merely nodded in reply, his Byakugan deactivating as he did so.

Although it can be blocked or countered, it really is an awesome tool.

After discussing the match, including the natural surprise because of the fact I used a whip, I wished them both a good day, informing Hizashi that I'd be asking him for a spar soon. I then picked up my weapons, and decided I needed more. More what you ask? Weapons of course.

Senbon were on the fore-front of my mind, so I visited my blacksmith friend.

"Haven't seen you in a while."

"Indeed, my money stocks were rather low after our last piece of business. I understand you sell shinobi supplies?"

"Buying ready-made? No custom order?"

"That's right, I need senbon, what do you have?"

"I've got plenty, not many shinobi use them when compared to kunai, but there are still quite a number; standard size?"

"Standard is good yes." I compared my new purchase to my senbon from Fugaku, noting with satisfaction that they were the same. Apparently, you could also buy medical senbon and heavy senbon, but I had no need for either.

After paying the money, one ryo per, I had forty senbon and a ten ryo senbon pouch. I took the products home, and naturally, began training in their use. While I had done this a while back, I certainly needed the practice, as evidenced by my less than exemplary accuracy.

Still, by the days end I had satisfactorily completed my regime. Now, I wonder if my little library has books on poison.

After bathing, and then dinner, I made my way to the library that my father had provided for my perusal.

_Non-Lethal Poisons, Basic Poison Mixing,_ and _How to Safely use Poisoned Weapons,_ were the offered titles, I quite like the fact that the names mean exactly what the book is about. _Non-Lethal_ sounds like a good first choice, then _Safely_.

The book outlined many poisons, and where to find them, as well as a few instructions and some complex poisons. A complex poison is merely a visible compound I.E mixing oil and milk is a complex substance.

The most interesting poison, dubbed _Chakra Poison,_ affected chakra control to the extent that using chakra was pretty much impossible. Unfortunately the ninja eating monster that produces it is uncommon, although the forest of death contains it.

A fairly weak and common poison though was what I would probably to using; it caused paralysis in reasonable doses and could be inhaled, if dried, or inserted into the bloodstream. It grew in every known country, resulting in its popularity. Unfortunately, the antidote was also widely known.

I highly doubt I'll ever become a poison legend like Sasori or Orochimaru, but I can make use of what is already known.

Though the book was not long, only around 100 pages, I was tired and it was getting late, so I retired to bed.

Come morning I was ready to skip school to find poisons, but then I remembered: Today was the weekend, which meant Hiroshi-sensei. This also meant no poison searching, or making, for today and tomorrow. Well, I like Hiroshi so I'll forgive him.

"Nanashi-kun, how do you feel about learning another Katon technique?"

"I perceive myself to be ready."

"Good, don't use your Sharingan for this, Katon: Fiery Beheading!"

A thin line of fire came out of Hiroshi's mouth, twisting rapidly around the dummy's 'neck', closing in and then blazing with fury upon impact. The affected section was moderately burnt and decently damaged by the small impact explosion.

"A personal favorite, this one is a real challenge to learn, I expect it'll take a month."

No kidding, this probably takes control almost on the level of chakra strings to create. Hiroshi explained the proper stance and the hand signs for the technique, filling me in on the fact that the length of the string was manipulated by the quantity of chakra used.

I gathered chakra in my belly, exhaling it while focusing on the concept and still holding the last hand seal. I instead exhaled nothing, he wasn't kidding when he said it would take a while.

Incidentally, I've never heard of this, high C-rank, jutsu before; the preparation time makes it almost impossible to use in a close range battle, but I'd say it's incredibly useful against immobilized enemies. Next justu to learn would have to be the Doton beheading thing that Kakashi uses against Sasuke.

I concentrated, carefully lining my insides with protective chakra and then again exhaled this time saying the name of the technique, "Katon: Fiery Beheading."

A wavy line of chakra that I could not see without my Sharingan exuded from my open lips, fizzling out after a few inches. As expected, controlling chakra in such a shape outside your body is quite difficult.

Now to keep at it, "Thank you very much Hiroshi-sensei."

"No trouble at all, once you've got it down, let me know; we'll be meeting like normal after this." Before he took off he corrected any visible errors in my method and gave some tips. Apparently, this isn't a common jutsu, the lack of destructive power making it unpopular among mainstream Katon users. The fact that its fire, however, makes it disliked among assassin style ninja as well.

I quite like it though, despite it similarity to a whip, or perhaps that's the reason? No matter, I'll get it down.

I spent the rest of the day alternating between eating, using my new jutsu – or trying to -, and throwing kunai with my left hand or lying down.

By the time supper rolled around I was less than proud of myself. Still, 'I learn more from my failures than my successes' is what they say, right? It's just another way of saying, "You've got no talent, but don't feel bad."

Which isn't a wrong saying either, with talent you have no control over it, so feeling bad about it is stupid, whereas with being fat you should feel bad, since you could have prevented it. Dying of starvation, however, was not something to feel bad about, since you can't control it. Well, unless you're an idiot who starves themselves when food is all around you.

On that tangent, you should feel bad about not eating dead human bodies if that's the only way to survive, somehow, I think this is flawed. Anyway, I'm very tired, another early night it is.

"Good night, Nii-san, Haha, Chichi."

"Good night, Nanashi," My father answered for the group.

"Fugaku, you really need to push harder," Were the last words I heard as I dropped off into blissful sleep.

For fun today, I applied a genjutsu on Kushina, who is rather weak to them, that makes her see my eyes as Hiashi's. This'll be fun.

"Oi, clan-bo-," She cut herself off as she finally saw my eyes. I should mention; I used the henge before I used the eye-to-eye genjutsu for this fine morning.

"How in the name of the Hokage did you get the Hyuuga's freak eyes?!"

"Do I have the Byakugan?" I asked turning with a confounded look to the rest of the class. In unison they shook their heads no, further adding to the effect.

Kushina rubbed her eye and even hit herself, enough to dispel most low-rank genjutsu I noticed, and then looked at me again. I cocked my head to the side, my now white in her sight eyes following my movements perfectly normally.

"The heck is going on? You still have them freak-eyes."

"Shall we take you to the doctor?"

"Take who to the doctor?"

"Good morning, Aoki-sensei!" The class chorused as said man entered the room fully.

"Ah, Uzumaki-san seems to think I have the Byakugan." I explained, lacing my voice with concern and sheer befuddlement.

In response the teacher narrowed his eyes at me and then Kushina, scowling after he did so.

"Hyuuga Hiashi, as class rep you have the honor, take Uzumaki to the nurse." Yoshiro said shortly, causing said Hyuuga to get up with all his grace and gesture for Kushina to exit; she did so, at length.

As Kushina left I allowed my chakra in her brain to leave, no evidence now.

"Now that that's over, we can get down to business, today we'll learn exactly what clans live in Konoha and their specialties."

"From the top, the Aburame, a Noble clan, are a clan of insect users…" He continued and I allowed my mind to stay half-focused for only minor clans, the main ones I already knew about.

Incidentally, no clans I did not know of popped up. This made for a rather boring class hour, though I kept my mind occupied in other ways. How much should I change things? Should I even try anything at all? No, Nagato needed to be dealt with, one way or another, and I didn't have much time.

Jiraiya was his sensei, so I'm guessing Nagato was taught by Jiraiya before said Sannin taught Minato. But what if I was wrong? What if Jiraiya only went to Ame after Minato was already a jonin. It was a real dilemma, if Yahiko died there would be no chance I could swerve Nagato away from becoming Pein.

And wasn't Danzo somehow involved in that whole spiel? Gah, I wish I had studied Naruto history more. Still, relative to Obito and Orochimaru I rank that rather low. Since Akatsuki wouldn't really go after the Biju without 'Madara' saying so, all I needed to do was either kill Obito when he was born, or stop him from coming in contact with Madara.

Choices, choices. The answer was simple; I needed a tracking seal, something to place on Obito that would tell me where he was at all times. Still, I don't think there is such a thing; sure, maybe one to point direction, but actual location? That'd be a wonder.

The simplest option was to convince Minato to teach me the Hiraishin once he learned it, or steal it from him, barring that. _If_ I could do this, I could feasibly plant one on Obito and then check up on him every once in a while.

Still, the simpler option was to get rid of Obito altogether whilst stopping Sakumo from killing himself. This way I wouldn't be able to predict anything, freeing me from obligation.

If I could pick, I'd want either Orochimaru or Hatake Sakumo as my jonin-sensei, then I could, perhaps, influence them. If the snake boy didn't do his doggone human experiments, then Sarutobi wouldn't make him a missing nin.

This whole web of possibilities was all rather mind-boggling. Still, the most all-encompassing and convenient option was simple: KILL OBITO; this was foremost in my mind. One good kid for the sake of many, it was sick maybe, but it was needed.

Without him, no Kyuubi attack, no Biju hunting organization, no massacre. It was simple, it was needed, it was horrible! What right did I have to take away a boy's life? What right did he have to cause the death of thousands? None, but I had the knowledge, I had the right to use it.

My course was set, Obito had to die, even if the 3rd shinobi war was lost because of it, the consequences were too dire.

But that's all assuming this is cannon-based, what if this is an AU? This is all so complicated; I'll deal with it when it comes. Should I even interfere? If I 'died' now everything would be 'ok', but what's life without risk? It wouldn't be mortal life, that's for sure.

Eventually the class-time ended, breaking me out of my revere.

"Ninjutsu, maggots! Get your lazy rears down here, and show it."

"Henge first, dimwits," Aoki announced, with henge we did it all together, everyone holding theirs until he was done inspecting.

"Everyone here will look like my assistant there in three seconds, clear?"

"Crystal, sir!"

"Go!" I flashed through the two hand-seals I needed for the technique, and transformed into a hopefully perfect rendition of Yoshiro's assistant teacher.

After exactly three seconds the slowest student had transformed. Aoki paced down the line, looking over each fake carefully, very carefully. As he inspected each student, how he knew who was where escaped me, he marked down something on his clipboard.

"Uchiha Nanashi, my assistant's pants are a single shade darker." Well sue me, he's in the shadow, plus no matter how I look at it, the other kid's henges look the same.

"Yes, sensei," Much as I hate agreeing with things I most certainly do _not_ agree with, I doubt any of us are up for one of my stubborn arguments.

"Uzumaki Kushina, my assistant's nose is not that red." Yoshiro pointed out with narrowed eyes, I glanced at said nose and almost burst out laughing, a clown nose, really Kushina?

The rest of the class, minus the Hyuuga boys, had less self-control, most laughing outright and some chuckled, needless to say, some henges were broken. This culminated in group punishment for Kushina and everyone whose henge dispelled. Of course, I was rather happy after this occurred, my lack of physical laughter scoring me some points.

Gambling resulted in my utter defeat, my pride from the previous session being completely crushed.

We ended with some running around the track, after which we were encouraged to use the gym, and, being only slightly sweaty, I availed myself of the offer.

One thing about being young, so little perspiration it's crazy.

To my immediate concern, the three bullies from a while ago are very much in shape and very much present.

"Oi, Uchiha, come here," The tallest one called me over.

Not one to wimp out, I strutted over, "Yes?"

"We's been thinking…"

"You've been thinking…"

"We want a rematch, one at a time, fair like."

"Oh? I'm more than happy to spar." I made sure to _not _sound condescending, from the look of things I succeeded. The one with the lightest hair handed over a wad of cash to the short one, grumbling about unpredictable clan-brats or something.

"You can call me Ichi."

"And call me Ni." I think I see where this is going, and I don't like it.

"And I'm San," The short one finished.

"Together we are! Teammates for life."

"We need a better catch phrase."

"We need a pose."

"We need to be popular."

"Are we going to spar or are you guys going to argue?" Their personalities seem distinctly different since… how long ago was our last encounter anyway? No matter, they might be a challenge.

"Ah right, there's a sparring ring just outside, I'll lead," Ni spoke up. I followed the boy outside, where a very official looking fighting ring was present.

Ichi stepped in, jumping over the elastic ropes that lined the ring; I lifted them up and walked in, "Considering the nature of our surroundings I'm going to assume just taijutsu."

"Yeah, we'll settle this like men," Ichi answered forcefully.

"Considering that we are male yet not yet men it's only slightly appropriate, do come at me." I ended my little speech with the sign of confrontation, the polite thing to do.

Ichi made no such gesture, instead stretching his muscles in preparation, seeing to reason to wait I jumped forward, landing a solid kick before the surprised boy could react.

"Oi! No one said begin hot-head."

"You never mentioned that someone would, I took advantage of the loophole." I do so like taking advantage of loopholes, especially when they're verbal.

The tallest of the three 'Teammates' snarled back at me, refusing to even admit he was injured by my attack. A foolish decision, it's always better to accept and work with your own body, I'd know.

Ichi slipped into the academy stance with an ease that spoke of unremitting practice and drill, cute. Knowing this, he's probably only fought fellow academy style users, I took the interceptor stance.

I made the come here gesture with my right pinky, syncing it with waggled eyebrows. Ichi simply took it as the signal for making his move. Initially, he took me by surprise by using the Kata's in a working but unconventional order, however, I do not focus on speed in name only.

After Ichi had launched a particularly wide kick I took the opening, giving him a forceful double palm while taking a glancing fist in return. He's obviously been working on his strength; it smarts a little.

Ichi stumbled backwards, finally catching himself on the elastic material that lined the ring; he dodged left just as I attacked with a vicious uppercut, saving him from sure defeat. The move cost him slightly though, my foot-work spinning me around in plenty of time as I struck out with a left straight, Ichi's hasty defense, however, succeeded in taking the blow.

With the boy very much on the defensive now I began kicking fruitfully, landing several hard blows that finally incapacitated him.

I rolled my shoulders, feeling kind of good about that fight, my skills have certainly advanced, more importantly, so has my reach.

"Who is next in line?" I asked politely.

"Me, clan-boy!" Ni shouted as he literally slid under the 'railing' and stood up with nary a stumble after he had crossed the obstruction. If showing off was the point, he got 9.9/10.

"I'll say when to start!" San yelled eagerly.

I simply stood in my position, Ni opting to pace around loosely. Within ten seconds San's yell of "Begin!" sent me flying at the enemy with a serious kick. To his credit, even though surprised, Ni moved out of the way, earning himself the right to only be spun around by my full weight.

Of course, it had to be Ni who liked such flashy things as spins and such, so he spun, but with a leg kicking in an aggressive fashion at my position. My eyes nearly widened but they didn't have time to, instead I somersaulted backwards, effectively avoiding Ni's maneuver.

"Not bad, kid, but not good enough!" The boy announced loudly as he came in with a cart-wheel kick.

The power was good but the speed was lacking, I easily avoided his kick, but was unable to counter.

After I had knocked away some of the - former?- bullies punches he again spun, this time on his own, with a spin kick, using my shorter frame to my own advantage I slipped under his leg, and gave the older male a knee to the groin.

He, understandably, yowled at the pain my less than honorable blow having done him in. To finish things, I punched him out cold.

"San-san, you're up." I informed tonelessly as I unceremoniously dumped Ni off the slightly raised platform.

The shortest of the trio nodded fiercely, clearly wanting to avenge his brethren. He stepped into the ring without fan-fare and looked at me.

"Any time," I smirked confidently, however, despite my bravado my stamina was low; Ichi's fight especially had taken energy out of me.

San, though I doubted it was his real name, watched me warily for a full minute, unconsciously letting me get some much needed rest. At the end of that period, though, I attacked skillfully injuring his wrists in particular.

San, however, turned out to be a terrible match up for me; he had plenty of stamina and even more pain tolerance. After I had exhausted myself on his defense for I don't know how long, the boy struck, leveling me with a straightforward punch that I should've been able to dodge.

However, I was too tired to move quickly, and I found myself on the ground.

I spat out some blood from a cut gum, this sucked. San instantly straddled me and began the traditional punch out, if this weren't taijutsu only I might've won by now.

Heaving myself with a great effort I wrapped my legs around his neck, but I was too weak and he didn't go down. Defeat was mine, "I yield." I somehow said around his unremitting head blows.

It hurt all over; still, it _did_ take three guys older than me to do it.

"You punch like a girl, these two suck." San replied as he cautiously got off of me.

"Ah well, even girls can punch hard." I'll be the second to admit, Kushina hits harder than I do, her skill is somewhat lacking though. In case you wondered, the first to admit it would be Kushina herself.

I was far to wasted to do any more than eat and sleep for the rest of the day. My mother was kind enough to call over a healer, the Uchiha had only a few, and she took care of my bruises and cracked bones.

In the morning I was quite well, and ready for my fight with Hizashi, though I had a little lingering soreness. Class was mostly normal, though today Minato was quite loud about being Hokage; I think he read something inspiring.

In true party crashing fashion, today was the day for the obstacle course, I'd have to put my plans for Hizashi's spar back a day. A certain Aomine Ryota had the honor of being first. Five minutes later the next kid was sent out, then the next.

Finally the count came to me, and I jumped forward. Curiously, Minato holds the current record, though I find it remarkable to believe it's not Hizashi or Hiashi.

I licked my lips as I slid under a falling log, two trees farther back than normal, interesting. I nimbly jumped over a deep pit, studiously ignoring the pleas of a fellow student who had not been so fortunate. They don't make this easy.

A wickerwork with blunt pokers came up from the ground at moderate speed; it was reminiscent of Vietnam to be sure. Though less fatal then the alleged traps that were commonplace there.

A noose sought to capture me and pick me up but it failed spectacularly. Somehow I think chunin or genin are seriously on the scene during this whole session, sadistically resetting traps.

Finally I came to the now redundant rapids that churned with fury over the somewhat dangerous rocks. I had, by now, refined a method of crossing that was startlingly simple, a chakra enhanced jump. While my skill with said technique was nothing impressive, it did get the job done in peaceful environments like this.

Now it was the home stretch, I came out only three minutes after Isao, proving why I was the best of my year.

After this we had taijutsu and genjutsu theory, finally ending the day with arithmetic. Now I could get to those poisons.

I excused myself from Konoha proper, instead foraging in the surrounding forests, where plants that produced incredible substances were not uncommon. I doubt poison will ever be my specialty, but I do feel like it's a useful subject.

Not unexpectedly there's a shop in Konoha that'll identify the poison you've brought in for a small fee. Incidentally they also buy and sell poisons. Orochimaru was the major funder of the institution, I noticed, though Tobirama founded it.

Still, I learned that my three hours of labor had earned me a good bit of paralysis poison and also some that just caused itching.

I sold them my non-extracted poison - meaning it was still inside the plant - in exchange for some prepared poison, combat ready in red letters right on it. Maybe the poison mixing book has some instructions on how to remove the stuff from plants and animals.

To my great and utter delight, it did. After supper I had investigated, finding the book and reading it. I found the entire thing interesting, although some of the stuff was decidedly tedious.

After reading the entire volume, I found that the time had gone right over my head, it now being midnight. The candle I had been reading by was on its last legs so I snuffed it out and went to bed.

Dreams of murdering children assaulted me, finally morphing into an intriguing zombie nightmare. I woke up all too soon, the abrupt ending of the movie-like dream upsetting me to a degree.

Of course, I would have classified the thing as action/adventure as my mind simply is incapable of imagining 'horror'.

Breakfast was eaten and I left to go to school, blowing bits of smoke and changing head-seals as I went. The reason for this was obviously the Fiery Beheading practice that I had been neglecting to a painful degree.

Two months and a win over Hizashi later I was finally capable of using the thing, taking inordinate pleasure in my belated success.

"It took forever, Hiroshi-sensei."

"Yes it did, I find myself wondering why you took so long."

"Well, I did spend lots of my afternoons poison gathering."

"You are pretty random Nanashi-kun, you sure you don't want to pick something to specialize in?"

"Eh, that's for chunin."

"Indeed, I suppose it is."

"What's on the agenda today?"

"3-tomoe Sharingan is! Get to it."

"Uh, how?" I asked, with uncharacteristic unintelligence.

"Use your 2-tomoe for a long, long time, and learn techniques with it activated." It should be mentioned that he does mean learn, without 3 tomoe the 'stealing' ability of the Sharingan is limited.

"Will you teach me then?" I asked.

"To an extent, we'll do some sparring and stuff too."

The technique he taught me was a D-rank Katon technique Burning Touch, the flaw with it was the chakra cost, rather high for D-rank, and power, not much damage was done. In actual combat it also had the tendency to burn the user.

After I had learned the rather simple technique, Hiroshi put ointment on my burns and we began our taijutsu spar.

With my Sharingan, I lasted longer than before; Hiroshi finally putting me down with a two-foot kick that knocked me down for minutes. I kept my Sharingan on in spite of the wastefulness of doing so during this time.

At length I got up, and then began throwing kunai, my form as text-book perfect as possible, yet loose enough for real combat. Eventually supper came around, and Hiroshi sensei and I went in for said meal.

"How was he, Hiroshi-san?" Father asked bluntly.

"He'll get there," Was the younger Uchiha's cryptic answer.

"Good, you've done well, Nanashi, continue to do so."

"Of course, Father, I won't let you down."

"Let's eat," Was his answer. And so we did.

**A/N: So we see some progression and a little bit of 'my'(Nanashi's) strength, next chapter should be fun but it might be a dud. Don't hold your breath.**

**I experienced some writers block on this chapter, I apologize - if only slightly - for the later than normal release. **

**Again, all reviews are welcome, though flames should stay in the fireplace, any bone picking is welcome, I like it when you all crush my plotline with well-timed depressing jutsu. Seriously though, please tell me what you think.**


	8. Chapter 8, Genin!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

Chapter Eight

I continued my 3-tomoe training with Hiroshi-sensei, taking time out of my personal schedule to train extra with him on week-day afternoons.

My 3rd year of shinobi academy ended in a few months and I still did not have the thing.

"Hiroshi-sensei, do you think I need more theoretical knowledge for it?"

"Seems unlikely, but we _have _tried a lot and the amount of time should be plenty by now."

"Have your Sharingan active, from the 2-tomoe to the 3-tomoe the differences are obvious, while the two only sees chakra in a limited fashion the three can see chakra in an opponent's body for a couple of inches."

"Is it then possible to see the chakra system?"

"Unfortunately no, for whatever reason only the Byakugan can see it. But, what you can see is the chakra pool, and enough to see how they are channeling the chakra, hence, skilled Uchiha can copy techniques."

"But if you can't channel your chakra the same way it's not possible to copy a jutsu?"

"That's right, this really comes down to chakra control; if they have S-class and you only have B, their most complex jutsu is out of your reach."

"I see, so is it possible to bypass your elemental affinity?"

"Yes, that's actually the primary advantage of the Sharingan; you can reverse engineer elemental manipulation."

"Interesting, so you look at how another person does it and get a non-personalized affinity."

"Correct, this is why copied techniques almost always cost more chakra."

"Ok, what else?" I asked, understanding this aspect, Hiroshi looked pensive for a couple seconds before replying.

"The enhanced vision comes to another level, allowing you to predict even finger movement by a small margin."

Basically, you can see the ligaments moving in real time, and can know a split second ahead of time that the finger will move. With the two-tomoe it goes as far as arm movement.

"But," The man continued, "It does you no good if you can't react, it's why Uchiha sometimes come off as high-strung."

Because they are, they train to be. It's not proven, but I think being high-strung all the time shortens your life a little. Well, for a ninja cutting five years off your natural life for a 10% better chance of living through the battlefield is a steal.

"Of course, the Sharingan has a cost, while we don't let outsiders know it, it's been proven that it limits the senses of touch and taste, only slightly though, nothing to worry about."

Of course, if all it needed was some chakra everyone would have it on all the time, seriously. Well, it sometimes creeps people out I guess.

While this has been interesting it's not something totally new, I've made plenty of speculation on the workings of my eyes.

"Also," I perked up, "The fact that the eye has chakra running through it makes control in the region much easier, this applies practically by making Sharingan genjutsu that much more effective and subtle."

Huh, so the Sharingan makes eye-to-eye genjutsu easier. Actually that makes sense, when you think about it, in cannon Naruto people got so scared of the eye's genjutsu that they seriously looked at the guys' waist.

"Unsurprisingly, it also makes countering eye-to-eye genjutsu exponentially easier."

"I see, is that all?"

"No it's not, but the rest is forbidden."

Aha, so he knows of the mangekyo, well, unless something else is forbidden when it comes to the Sharingan.

"In that case, thank you for the information," I bowed slightly; nothing was different about my eyes to my knowledge. Not the first time I've been disappointed.

I then left, to devote my attention to fuinjutsu. In this particular field I had made progress after a fashion, speed; I could now write nearly six times as fast while suffering from only 10% reduced accuracy, this was perfect for such things as explosive tags, which can be slightly flawed and still work due to their simplicity.

Of course, to someone who knows nothing of fuinjutsu a mere explosive tag is impossibly complex, and yet, it's the easiest and most common use of the art. It's a daunting subject, but the knowledge of its impressive results drove me on.

I'd also crafted a number of the mini tags, for use when I can actually get a breech-loading barrel crafted. My liquid storage scrolls work well enough, but slight errors can ruin the delicate balance, and I've mostly been focusing on offensive stuff anyway.

The fact that Suiton jutsu is years away also contributed; in any case, it's been listed and put in the Uchiha Archive of Techniques, this particular location I have no access to, unfortunately.

My stock of poison has grown, and I've personally felt most of its effectiveness. Overall I feel much more combat ready.

Except for the blasted Sharingan, stupid thing won't evolve. Ah well, the things just a crutch anyway, none of the Hokages even had a doujutsu, though that doesn't tell you much.

I wonder what having the Byakugan is like, or perhaps more interestingly, the Rinnegan. Well, it's unlikely I'll ever know, but I'd gladly give my left eye in return. Come to think of it, why don't the Hyuuga and Uchiha have an eye exchange program? That way there'd be Hyuuga with a single Sharingan and Uchiha with a Byakugan; now _that_ would be interesting.

Of course, it'll never happen, no way would either clan give up their prized eyes.

I completed the explosive tag I had been working on, noting with satisfaction that despite my distracted state it had come out very well.

I read the D-rank fuinjutsu book I had many times over before returning it to the Konoha Archive. With a firm grounding in the basics and some skill with simple stuff I think it's time I look into harder material.

Unfortunately, I have no way of procuring such items, and so here I am, churning out tags and scrolls with what little ink I have left.

The fact is, my fuinjutsu will never progress beyond a certain level, but even with low-rank stuff you're that much more versatile.

I took my whip out, looking it over skeptically. Was there a way to use fuinjutsu on it? It's a whip so most likely no, however the tip can be affected by my talents.

I carefully wrote a reinforcement matrix onto the tip of my short whip, experimentally whipping out with it. Now, if fuinjutsu can't work on it, what can? Chakra certainly can, as evidenced by the Dragon Fire technique.

I cautiously channeled raw chakra into the whip; it instantly began to give off a slight aura of power and invincibility, how intriguing. I put in more, until I could feel the drain, lashing out I utterly cut through the post I was practicing on. Makes sense, but still incredibly useful.

Theoretically, if my control is good the cost for jutsu is reduced, time for water walking.

I went out to the river I had used for my liquid storage scroll years before, and after finding a calm spot, I began my attempts.

My skills at this particular exercise are rather pathetic, I have decided. This is obvious because… I am soaked from head to toe; I really should learn to swim. I feel better about myself though, I can stand on water for one second! Woot!

Yeah, this is really sad, time to dredge up memories of fan-fictions that described this exercise. Thinking… nope, nothing I haven't _tried_ to do. Practice makes perfect they say; I kept at it.

Time flew, and my clothes got no wetter, only because they were completely wet already. Nevertheless, the land of fire is warm, and I felt no serious discomfort.

Eager to avoid the possibility of 'catching a cold' I took a hot bath before dinner. At said meal I ate a good portion, though with all due manners.

Tomorrow would be a school day; I was determined to be ready, therefore I went to bed after reading a short segment of the Poison Mixing book I had access to.

"Good morning, Hiashi-san, Hizashi-san." I greeted my maybe-friends; they've actually got warmer if anything over the years, though it could be that I'm just better at reading them.

"Good morning, Uchiha-san." They replied, each in turn.

After the pleasantries I excused myself and moved to my most amusing classmate.

"A fine day is it not, Uzumaki-san?"

"It's a fine day to smash you to the ground, clan-freak!" My, my, now it's a combination insult.

"Ah, but any day is fine for that isn't it though?"

She narrowed her eyes at me, acutely aware of my fondness for wordplays, "Yeah." She finally conceded.

"Indeed, but as I say, you can try, and you can fail, good-luck Uzumaki-san," I waved over my shoulder as I left her.

Moving on to the next of my acquaintances, I found Minato poring over a mathematics scroll.

"Looking to get ahead?"

He glanced up at me briefly, saying a short greeting and mumbling, "Yeah," he went back to his book.

"In that case, I'll leave you to it." Most of our math focuses on geometry and vectors, addition and division class math already behind us. I don't know how, but kids here can keep up with the high-school level work well enough.

Maybe being ninja - even if only in training - boosts efficiency? That's why civilians like Tazuna aren't impressive. Of course, this doesn't hold water, it being far to flimsy of a theory. I think it's good enough to hold sour cream though.

In any case, it seems Aoki-sensei is here.

"Sit down maggots!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and smartly found a seat.

"One word: Chakra Control." Sorry to point this out, but that's two words. Is this a test? Worth a shot.

"That's two words, with respect, sir."

"Uchiha Nanashi… what makes you think you have the ability to question me? My word is the law, punk!"

"There are things greater than the law, such as a constitution."

"You're quite the little thinker aren't you? My office after school, Uchiha. Now, where were we?"

"Ah, yes, chakra-control, what does this mean to you? A means to an end? A tool? Some dumb thing that horrid teacher is talking about!?"

"No! None of that is right, chakra control is simple; it's what we're doing today."

I almost cracked up, this guy has serious humor. I have to say though, I doubt the academy has anything to offer on this particular subject, but, an open mind is needed.

"We're going to have something very special, the long thought lost… leaf exercise!"

Everyone here had already mastered said exercise, so, to say that this was less than enthusing would be an understatement. However, with all due conspiracy theory mentality, I happily marched over and pulled a leaf off the tree with my forehead. An old trick to wow kids.

It's a fact, outside the Konoha Ninja Academy several trees are grown, solely for their leaves.

Following my example, the rest of the kids went out and stuck a leaf to some part of their body. Yoshiro merely stared. I cocked my head to the side, then shrugged, if this wasn't an overseen event I'd have fun with it.

Grass walking, my new 'fun thing' for chakra control was born of a certain thought: "If you can walk on water, why not grass?"

Of course, I can do neither, so far. Grass walking is also really difficult because grass is simply not strong enough to hold human weight, nor does it have surface tension like water. So how _can _it work, you ask? Easy in theory actually, you just have to stiffen the grass with your own chakra, and then spread your weight out over several blades.

Unfortunately, I can't do it yet, I tried it on my hand though, it'll work in time.

"Uchiha Nanashi, I don't care what you think you're doing; leaf exercise is on the menu!" Aoki yelled fiercely, honestly, can't he make an exception for me? No he can't, it's like the Oliver Twist conundrum, if one gets more, all get more.

I sighed and lazily attached a leaf to each finger, returning to my grass exercises.

At length, the chakra control period of today ended, with no notable advancements in my theory. Perhaps you had to be a Sage to grass walk? Since it's so closely associated with nature? I somehow think not, in fact, I'd go so far as to say that nature chakra can be used without instruction from summons.

Of course, that'd take a while, but immortality is not out of reach with the possibilities chakra holds. I wonder; is this how Orochimaru feels? Knowing that it's possible, having an impossible dream that actually _could _come to fruition.

Although, his chosen method of immortality was amateurish at best; if I _do _get him as my sensei I'll let him know how I feel.

Next was biology, my worst subject under the sun, but after the chicken butchering anatomy theory doesn't really gross me out at least. Still, way too much to know with biology, I mean, not only animals, but plants as well? That's a lot of stuff to know.

After this it was taijutsu spars, I was paired off against some nameless classmate who was obviously cursing his luck at having to fight me. Eh, let's go easy on this dude.

"What's your name, kid?" I asked, surreptitiously ignoring that he was my age.

"Ieyasu, no last name."

"Ah, I see, then, let's have a good spar, Ieyasu-san."

What arrogant handicap shall I give myself? Aha! Only kicks, shoulders, and head-buts, that'll do nicely.

After the fight had officially begun I clasped my hands behind my back firmly, settling into a hard look at the same time.

"Don't underestimate me!"

Ouch, that's a loss flag. I mean, really, only fools yell such an obviously self-demeaning thing.

Ieyasu, a medium kid with dark-brown hair and a small nose, charged, impossibly slowly to even my normal eyes. He came in close, or rather, he tried to, my right leg was quite offensive when it wanted to be.

I rushed at the boy, body slamming him to the ground, then turning around and kicking his butt. He fell forward into the dirt, getting back up before he was counted down.

Obviously more cautious now, Ieyasu slipped into a good academy stance, firm and stable, but ill-suited to rapid combat. He advanced slowly, like a rock, avoiding my kicks by narrow margins and slapping others away.

Fish and whales! This guy has it figured out; if this keeps up he'll win.

Time to throw him off, "So, you have a girlfriend yet?"

"No, I am far too young for such things."

"To young to have friends! Where did you grow up? Or is this just a result of having no friends at all?"

He flinched at that, ouch, must've hit the nail on the hammer.

"No friend Ieyasu joined the academy, huh, why? He thought he'd make friends there? Or did he want to die in combat, and get his name on that beautiful stone?"

"You know nothing!" Ieyasu yelled in fury, rushing forward at a speed beyond what he was capable of before, hmm, I wonder how much and how long anger empowers you? This merits some research.

"You have a clan, a family that loves you! And you dare to mock me because I have none!?"

Wow, he really is letting it all out, sounds close to tears to.

"I lived my life in an orphanage, with kids smarter and more liked!"

"I spent my days trying to be good at _something_ but nothing, nothing," He was panting now.

"Until I found I could mold chakra, it was like a dream come true! Ninja's are respected, I could _be _something. But then you, you and the rest of this pathetic class! All better than me!"

O.K, I did not expect this, makes me feel a little bad about this, but still.

I kicked him repeatedly, until the teacher called the match.

"Oi, Ieyasu, sorry about making fun of you, I didn't mean it, just making sure to make you lose your temper." I said to the boy as he got up, despite his bruises, and walked away.

He made a thin line with his lips and nodded once, but, what were more telling were the clenched fists he bore at his sides.

I scratched an itch on my neck; this whole taunting business can make you feel bad if _they_ go too far with the reaction. Both sides needed this experience though, so, I'll put this on my list of successes.

Do you know the difference between success and failure? There is none, failure is a successful fail and success is a failed fail. Don't worry if this all doesn't make sense to you, it shouldn't.

Nevertheless, it seems good to inform you that this mental stupidity was brought on by my failed failure at water walking. Thus, those who gaze upon my glorious figure shall be i- "Whoa!"

I shivered, darn leaf, don't you know that disrupting the surface is a no no?

It's the cooler months at this point and any bravado is done away with in favor of keeping warm when you're soaked to the dermis. I say to the dermis because getting soaked to the bone is physically impossible without ripping off some of your flesh.

The end of this year is the cut off for early graduation, not what you're thinking. It means that - unless we're at war - the end of this year is the earliest you can graduate.

The Hyuuga twins, myself, and Minato seem to be the only for sure graduates, but most kids try. Of course, the requirements are rather harsher than at regular graduation. Don't ask why, I have no idea.

So, I've been pushing on my Katon jutsu and chakra control. I've almost got water walking down and the fire techniques I know are almost second nature now. Still, in actual combat I have a high chance of getting slaughtered.

Maybe I need to be proactive about my jonin-sensei; if I interested Orochimaru he'd pull the strings and boom, Orochimaru-sensei. With Sakumo though, I have no idea.

If only the darn Sharingan would evolve. I activated it, hoping for the less-than-likely outcome of joy.

Huh, that was strange; the air seemed to have extra chakra here for some reason. A seal around here perhaps?

I look the area over, searching for something that would be releasing chakra into the air; finally I looked into the water with a scowl. My reflection scowled back at me and I couldn't help but look at it for a second.

My Sharingan's vision was too HD to miss the 3rd tomoe in each eye spinning around painfully slowly. My face split in two with a smile. Stupid thing finally cooperating I see, it's about time too.

I marched back out on the water, confidently watching the ripples in the water with my special eyes as I stood and even walked for minutes. Yes, the Sharingan was truly a blessing.

The next day, I remembered that I needed to inform Hiroshi-sensei of my success, and so I did, sprinting to his house and calmly knocking on his wooden door.

"Hiroshi-sensei, good-day, I have a surprise for you." I instantly said even as the man stepped outside.

"Oh? What kind?"

I activated my Sharingan, the three tomoe spinning up at the Uchiha's face.

"You got it!" He exclaimed unguardedly, before popping into a formal stance, "I heartily congratulate you on your remarkable success Nanashi-kun."

"I accept your gracious congratulation with upmost respect."

"Does your father know yet?"

"No, I have not yet had the chance to inform Father of this development."

"You should do so as soon as possible my student, he will be most pleased."

"Of course, I shall not hesitate to inform Father at the earliest opportunity."

"Good. How's the chakra control coming?" Hiroshi asked, slipping back into a more casual form of speech.

"I am now able to walk on water for minutes, though not always without fail." I replied, still formal.

"Excellent, I'll drop by to give some pointers next time you try."

"I kindly accept your gracious offer."

"How's the weapon throwing coming along?"

"My range is now beyond thirty meters on stationary targets." It's a fact, throwing kunai at ninja from more than ten meters almost always fails if they are moving, it's just that that no ninja has a constant velocity, simple physics.

"Very nice, hits or bull's-eye?" I'm honored; to even consider that I could hit the bull's-eye from there.

"Hits, sensei."

"Let's have a spar, training weapons and taijutsu."

"I'd be happy to spar with you, Hiroshi-sensei."

We walked over to the Uchiha training grounds, each of us taking pouches of blunt kunai and shuriken from the little stall next to the place. It was all quite convenient, if you were an Uchiha you had the right to use training weapons so long as you returned them when done, they even had swords and stuff, something to look into.

Hiroshi and I faced off, looking closely for any weaknesses, not that we would find any, being teacher and talented student. Since everything I knew about taijutsu came from Hiroshi, with maybe a couple exceptions, this was no over statement.

I began the spar by rushing in and point blank throwing my kunai before mounting a hasty retreat, hit and run has, and always will, work.

Hiroshi, however, was far too skilled to either be taken by surprise or hit, the Uchiha easily batted away my blunt kunai, almost missing the shuriken I had snuck into the barrage. Almost means nothing in the shinobi world, which is why in ninja math you always round down, whereas civilians round up. No kidding.

Slipping the kunai he had used back into his pouch Hiroshi came at me with a beautifully executed interceptor style.

Knowing that my smaller frame would result in my own demise if I took the attack head-on, I circled around it, aiming to land a kick on Hiroshi's shin. Not a weak spot to be sure, but shins had always been somewhat prone to breaking or feeling pain. Plus, skilled ninja always expected you to strike the knee.

And really, when it came down to it, the ninja who won was the fastest, strongest, and most _surprising_. It's why Naruto himself didn't die right away, he was unpredictable, but boy was he slow and weak.

So, as with almost all things, balance is the key.

Hiroshi was fast; and strong too, but surprising he was not, not to me at least, I knew what he was capable of, not all of it, but close. This was my advantage, he knew me, yes, but not for all I was.

Still, I blocked an overhead kick with both my arms; I don't think it'll be enough. I disengaged quickly, avoiding the body lift that would no doubt follow.

Hiroshi had fought many times, and he was good, much better than I was. Whatever conceit I had about being the best student was washed away every time I lost an encounter, which was almost all.

I jumped back, avoiding a straight punch, knowing that I could not block it. Hiroshi followed up with an upward kick that could have seriously mauled my tenders, seriously, that's vicious.

I continued to retreat, avoiding all manner of attacks and waiting for an opening. There! I jumped forward, placing my feet so that I'd have all the force I could muster; this had the side effect of making it impossible to back up.

Blunted kunai in both hand I hoped for the best, trying to get a read on what the older male's response would be. I didn't know what hit me until a quite a bit later.

Hiroshi-sensei had boxed my ears so forcefully I went dead out.

I woke up in my bed, noticing that the sun was lower than before, by a decent margin. Maybe an hour or two? It didn't matter, I needed water, badly.

I groggily stumbled over to the sink, grabbing my glass and filling it generously with Konoha's healthy tap water. Just another blessing from the Nidaime to me, running - and oh so clean - water.

After draining my glass I sparingly splashed water on my face, to wake myself up. I looked over to the coat rack, good, Chichi was home.

I sought out the nearest person, my mother as it turned out, asking her for directions.

Instead, "Already up, Nana-chan?"

"Yes, Mother, I have awoken, I assume Hiroshi-sensei knocked me out?"

She made a small frown before answering, "Yes he did, and mighty irresponsible it was. I mean, kids need training, yes, and even broken bones, but head blows that cause concussions are too much."

Mother is rather strange about this subject, but what she just said is her opinion in a nut-shell. She's all for kids getting beat up a bit, but anything that can cause anything approaching brain damage is a no-no. Makes some sort of sense I guess, the early years are very critical as far as the brain goes.

Still, to get back to what I came for, "Where is Father?" I hope Hiroshi-sensei didn't tell him himself.

"In his home office, working on a little surprise," She answered, almost proudly. Well, if it weren't a surprise I'd be all over that.

It's kind of strange though, Father almost never uses his home office, preferring to keep work away from home for the most part.

I walked over to where I now knew my father was, knocking sharply twice at the door.

There was a quiet rustling sound before he intoned, "Come in."

I opened the door, silently stepping in and closing it behind me, "I trust Hiroshi-sensei hasn't told you?"

He looked at me quizzically, "Told me what?"

Suddenly I felt worse about this whole thing, some part of me wanting to back out for no apparent reason, but I squashed it ruthlessly before speaking up, "My Sharingan evolved."

"The 3-tomoe then?" I nodded, "Good, I'm happy for you, I'll make some time and give you some personal instruction."

It's been forever since Father has had a direct hand in my training, this must mean a lot to him. Or maybe his work schedule is finally winding down a little.

"In the mean-time," He was quite serious, "There is a book in your library you should read, _Laws of Konoha_, as policemen, Uchiha are expected to be able to make just judgments, in fact, quite a number have gone on to be judges and lawyers after their active shinobi years."

How intriguing, I suppose I've always had a slight fancy for being the lawyer, like on the movies, still, I'm far too realistic to believe it really goes that way.

Still, laws can get me really riled up, I like to know what they say and hate on the guys who don't follow them. Of course, bureaucracy can be a serious pain, hopefully we don't have one here. Although, somehow I think there is a small one.

Nevertheless, pondering aside, Father has told me to read a book, and so I shall. I mean really, who doesn't want to please their dad at this age? And in a feudal society this is even more prevalent, if you don't do what your father says you are a downright rebel to society.

Not that I'm complaining, I'll get to do the same with my own kids. Assuming I meet that special someone. Or, I guess Father might arrange a marriage for me, I don't mind; as long as the girl isn't a you-know-what. To put it in less than explicit terms, hopefully my wife will not be a female dog.

I bowed lightly, excusing myself from the room. I then walked over to my own library hidden behind the curtains; I entered quietly, and began searching for the book Father had mentioned.

There we are, _Laws of Konoha_ and then in smaller print below that _and their Interpretations_ interesting, we get to read the laws, then their conventional meanings and then compare my own understanding to that.

After a short, and largely meaningless, preamble I got right into the reading. On a side note, the book is satisfactorily thin.

_Highest Law: The Hokage has authority to make laws and administer judgments to the breakers thereof._

Short and to the point, I see he doesn't have the right to tax the population though.

_Higher Laws: The general populace has the right to vote on the Hokage's successor._

How interesting, only popular men can be Hokage, it seems. Although this must be a new law, since both the second and third Hokages were appointed.

_Only the Merchant Guild, with the Hokage's approval, can tax civilians._

Non-shinobi can't be arbitrarily taxed I see, though non-civilian taxes have not yet been mentioned. Giving this much authority to a 'Guild' sounds stupid; but I suspect that the name is a misnomer.

_Clans shall retain the right to practice traditions, provided they do not infringe on the rights of other clans or citizens._

This is why the Hokage has no say over, say, the Hyuuga's cursed seal.

_Every citizen of Konoha has the right to life and private property._

In other words, this is a dictatorship, but no way are we a socialistic society.

_No citizen shall be detained beyond 24 hours or otherwise punished without due process of law._

Basically, 'we assure our wonderful residents that the cops won't come and torture you for no reason' definitely a needed provision.

_The Hokage has the right to label rebellious shinobi missing-nin, to be hunted until such time as they are captured or killed._

Oooh, Hokage-sama can just call any shinobi he wants a nuke-nin, that's dangerous.

There might have been a couple more, but I skimmed over it and went on down to the regular laws.

_Laws: All revenue wrought by mission payment shall be split equally between the participating ninja and the village, with the village always receiving half._

This one leaves no room for question, necessary when it comes to stuff like this. I looked down, wow, it seemed like twenty pages of laws; that's really good, the US had millions of pages, I am sure.

_The Uchiha clan is hereby vested the authority to run and maintain the military police. Monetary compensation shall be provided for every ninja therein._

This one is pretty vague actually; it doesn't even say how much compensation. I'm sure there is a precedent or something they use for that though, unwritten rules.

_Conditions for Citizenship:_ _Both parents must be proven Konoha citizens, or, the applicant must reside in Konoha for ten years, or, the subject can be granted citizenship by the Hokage. All foreign merchants or resident non-citizens shall be treated justly._

That extra clause there is important, but still, this is huge, if Orochimaru's experiments were done on orphans who had no known parents and were less than ten years of age, he was technically within the law. Since I doubt the Hokage grants every one of them citizenship.

That's kind of mind blowing, of course, the Hokage has the right to label any shinobi as a missing-nin, so if he says no-no, don't do it. I'm still mind-blown by this particular revelation though.

_Foreign emissaries shall be treated with honor and shall not be unduly spied upon or otherwise have their privacy infringed. No foreign emissary may be capitally punished._

I see; this is what screwed Konoha over on the Hyuuga incident; Konoha had broken its own law, not to mention grossly infringed on whatever the newest treaty was.

Although, about the upper sentence, I've got to say, this just means 'We won't get caught spying on you.' I mean, no one expects you to _not _spy on foreigners.

Something I've noticed about these laws, it doesn't say what the punishment for breaking them is. Must go back to the Highest Law, Hokage decides. And then after he's made a decision, judges in normal courts use the same one for similar cases? Unreliable, if workable.

Or is there a chief justice somewhere? That'd be a job.

I continued reading, picking apart in my mind the laws that were controversial, and trying to better understand Konoha.

With the three-tomoe Sharingan there are many benefits, and many responsibilities, as Hiroshi-sensei would put it. The ability to see chakra is a massive boon, but can also cause damage to the optical nerves if you see too much; or something like that.

Anyway, for a myriad of reasons, it's not safe to have a doujutsu on constantly; obviously these guys haven't met Nagato. Which, by the way, I am very eager to do, eliminating perhaps the greatest ninja since the Sage of Six Paths from the threat list is pretty important.

Nevertheless, I have no idea how to go about turning him away from his little 'Peace Plan', from becoming Pein.

As I've noted before though; in comparison, Obito is the greater issue. And I've done some thinking, killing Obito right away is unfair to the fellow, so, I need to find Madara himself. Either he will die, or he'll somehow turn me to the dark side, or I'll die, simple.

Of course, I'll need to leave a journal, detailing everything that will happen, if I choose to do this.

I'll right it in English, leaving a key to the unheard of language in my path, so that only those with both can know the future. Man, that sounds so mystically cool, 'Only those with both will know the future', like some treasure maps riddle.

Still, this is way off topic, where were we? Ah, yes, it's not safe to keep your doujutsu on for inordinate periods of time. Kind of like having adrenaline pumping for thirty-six hours isn't healthy.

But, the responsibilities are not insubstantial; those with the three-tomoe Sharingan have a place of prestige within the clan, since some never even activate their doujutsu.

Of course, my own prestige is already somewhat high; being clan head's son and all, but, having no head-band, Uchiha, rightly, dismiss me out of hand. And while my pride is damaged, my logic is delighted.

By far the greatest impact, however, is the ability to copy other's techniques. On this note I feel it right to mention that those who are offended by Uchiha 'thieves' don't deserve to be called ninja. Period.

I've not had the opportunity to learn anything in this fashion yet, but once I've graduated I'm sure it'll pick up.

On to other matters, Minato has really started to show his genius, almost surpassing even my own impressive lead. This, of course, would not stand, and so, grateful for the motivation, I have pressed on all the more, easily outstripping the rest of the class.

To my great intellectual delight Minato has recently begun studying some Fuinjutsu books of low caliber, allowing me to compare notes on the subject with him.

Kushina, naturally, is most unimpressed with Minato's newfound strength, his unimpressive features leaving her wholly disbelieving and doubtful. Her own scores are now at the bottom of the top seven, Shin'Ichi and Isao both having greater academic skill.

Her chakra control, while naturally boosted by her feminine gender, is lowered by her brash nature and hot-temperedness. It makes you wonder how a control freak like Tsunade ever gets away with being angry.

And for those doubters, it's a proven fact; mental instability causes disruption in the chakra flow, resulting in lowered control.

This is why true shinobi never waver, if they do, the techniques fail.

At this point, I'm lined up to graduate in six weeks, and I've never been more excited and dreadfully afraid for my life before.

"For those of you who are attempting early graduation, arrogant brats, come with me!" Aoki yelled, leaving his assistant to wrap up the school year for the few who remained.

Virtually the entire group had followed Aoki, somehow self-confident after four years of schooling. They should have known better.

"First we have a beautiful written test! Take a seat."

"There are thirty-six problems, from various subjects, and you have 15 minutes to finish them. Begin!"

No sense worrying about the time limit.

_Who was the First Hokage's wife?_

Easy peasy, Uzumaki Mito.

_In what year did the First Shinobi War begin?_

I hate date problems, I wrote down what I was fairly sure matched that event.

And so the problems continued, the history ones taking fifteen seconds and the math ones eating up the rest of the time, then with 2 minutes left I came to number 33.

_You have two teammates, both genin, and you are facing a jonin opponent, what course of action do you take? Explain._

_I negotiate; rank means little in the shinobi world, but, it's safe to assume that a jonin can run faster than any genin, running is out. Also safe to assume that the jonin has greater combat prowess than genin, so, buying time or outright avoiding confrontation is the best course of action._

Time ran out before I could complete my answer to the next tactical question which was: _Assume that ten chunin are running toward your position at sixteen miles per hour, you have two jonin as back-up, what is your course of action if the chunin are hostile and the friendly jonin are tired? The chunin are 1.2 miles away. Explain._

I wrote _Hide_ but had not the time to actually explain, "Pencils down maggots! We have a very special guest for our next section, taijutsu."

"Say hello to Nakata-san, teacher of sixth year taijutsu here at the academy, and very proficient at it."

I figure with long musty-brown hair turned around slowly and dramatically, flicking her hair back as she fully faced us.

"A woman!?" Some stupid kid yelled, extremely surprised at the feminine nature of the taijutsu instructor.

"Indeed," I answered dryly; seriously, it's not that surprising; anybody can be good at the academy style, which is why it even _is_ the academy style.

"You've got one objective, last for two minutes or more against Nakata-sensei and you'll be well on your way to genin; come when called."

As usual, the list went down alphabetically, from the top, leaving me very near the bottom, which I was very happy about, this way I could pick apart Nakata-sensei's style. Finally, and I mean finally, the Hyuuga and Minato lasted forever, my turn came.

"You look tired Nakata-sensei; perhaps you should sit this one out?"

"Peh, I've got plenty in me kid." Oh, I know you do, just look at all those not-genins licking their bruises.

"I'm sure you do, but it's not healthy for women to exhaust themselves."

"You better shut up before you get yourself in trouble kid." Ah, darn, attempt number one to rile up opponent, failed.

"Hajime!" Yoshiro yelled, preempting any witty comebacks.

"You know, it really is quite impressive that a woman like you teaches all those _big boys_," I added a mocking lilt, "their place."

"I've heard better taunts from toads."

"Have you now? I wonder then, perhaps you know Jiraiya-sama, rather closely it seems, since he let you speak with his toads, mm." I jiggled my eyebrows and made a knowing look.

Without warning Nakata came at me, finally realizing that I was just buying time, that being the objective, I ducked under her blow, lashing out with my own. She swatted it away with her other hand, coming in with kick that could send bratty little boys like me flying.

"Did I hit a nerve?"

"You're stupid kid; I've barely even seen Jiraiya-sama."

"Ah, well, if it happened while you were drunk we can still find a doctor."

"If what happened?" She asked as I ducked under another blow.

"Nothing, seriously, everybody seems to think that this stuff means anything, I'm not implying a thing; you are just inferring whatever you want to." I'm not kidding; people take this stuff _way_ to personally.

"Nice try, kid," Nakata praised me insincerely as I began my own series of attacks.

I hastily dodged as the female teacher countered with her right fist, dancing around the blow with what little skill I had. I glanced at the clock, at least thirty seconds to go.

Using all my speed I dodged a sweeping kick, followed by an eight punch combo. I jumped back as Nakata-sensei closed in, avoiding a brutal beat-down.

She then came in with a tackle, with great speed did she charge, but I slipped to her left just as she made to grab me, tripping her with my foot as I did so.

I caught her fall with both hands, even as the two minute mark rolled around; from here it's bonus points.

I lighted my right leg high, bringing it down with great force on the medium height teachers head, she hastily block with her left arm, deflecting the blow to her shoulder.

Doggone, if I was taller that would have finished her. As it was, the axe kick had hurt her left arm quite nicely.

I disengaged, not wanting to be thrown by my own leg, and took the interceptor stance.

"Time for a graduation reveal, yes?" Oh yes. I almost activated my Sharingan, but I quickly remembered that use of chakra in taijutsu only spars was not allowed, even to strengthen muscles.

"Che," I spat under my breath, stupid academy, now I'd have to make something up for my 'graduation reveal', oh well, let's make it funny.

"Oh yeah? Let's see it kid."

I wracked my brain for a second, before something popped into my head, "Watch closely." By now, the whole class was watching, wondering what the all-powerful move the top kid had been hiding.

I crouched low, putting my hands on the sandy ground and cocking my head to the side. Kushina scoffed.

"Sand Storm!" I yelled, after I threw dust into the watching eyes of Nakata-sensei. I followed up, even as she cursed, and as she rubbed her eyes and flailed I drove her out of the ring. That actually worked better than the Sharingan.

The entire audience was gaping, well, most of it, others were chuckling.

"So, how many points do I get for defeating a teacher?"

"100, next."

As Nakata reentered the ring, still blinking, she was opposite Isao.

At length the exams finished, and the successful students were ushered into the room of the graduating class, two years ahead of the pack, and with Konoha head-bands on.

Even as I had tied mine to my forehead, I felt ten times its measly weight on my shoulder, as I bound it to my head I felt bound to Konoha, if I left now, I was to be hunted until I was beheaded. It was a sobering moment, when I realized I was bound, bodily to someone else's ideals and beliefs.

"Team 11 will be Uchiha Nanashi, Hyuuga Hiashi, and Hironaka Kaede; your jonin-sensei will come and pick you up." Well, at least Hiashi wouldn't be a drag, that's for sure; hopefully this Kaede was a ninjutsu specialist that I could copy from.

After teams were listed off jonin-sensei began arriving and taking the children.

"Team four with me!" A white-haired man yelled, the red paint under his eyes marking his identity clearly.

Minato and his two teammates happily trotted out after the Legendary pervert Sannin, happy to train under such a prestigious figure.

"Team eleven, come with me," I perked up as the number eleven was called, nearly breaking into an impossible grin when I saw who it was.

**A/N: So, finally graduation, with all the drama therein. Reviews are a form of support unrivaled, so please, feel free to review.**

**Anyway, hopefully this chapter this chapter was satisfactory, as is now usual I had trouble getting the chapter going, but by the end I was roaring through the WPM like a professional typer. Ok. Not that fast, I'm really quite slow at typing.**

**Nonetheless, this has been proofread and approved, so please be waiting expectantly for the next chapter, and write with proper grammar.**

**Signed,**

**Iamwhononofyouare**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: You guessed it, I don't own Naruto.**

**Special note: This is rated T for teen, and as such 12- ppl should be aware that there are brief references to (in my 15 yr old opinion) mild gore.**

Chapter Nine

"Kukuku, how have you been, Nanashi-kun?" Orochimaru, young as he was, still tried his best to creep us out.

"I have been well, Orochimaru-sensei." I was glad that I had Orochimaru as my sensei, yes, but I also knew that meant I'd need to watch my back.

"You know Orochimaru-sama from before, Nanashi-san?"

"Not really, just a passing introduction a few years back, Hiashi-san."

It seems that we're on first name terms now that we're teammates; it works fine for me though. Speaking of teammates, I glanced over at our female link inspecting her subtly, Hironaka Kaede was it? Yes, I do believe it was.

"Now, why don't we all introduce ourselves?" Orochimaru spoke up, in that smooth and slithering voice of his.

"I'll go first then, Uchiha Nanashi, hobbies, dreams, likes, and dislikes, yeah?" I got a little nod from my new Sensei, so I continued, "Hobbies? Training, dreams… to stay alive long enough to make a difference; I like sticky rice and Sukiyaki, and training, dislikes… tomatoes and naïve idiots."

Orochimaru made no move to comment or react, instead motioning for Kaede to talk.

"I enjoy freaking out idiots, my hobby is making origami figures, I dislike arrogant pricks, and I want to have a nice family when I grow up." She answered the prompting cheerfully and with diction. She was one year older than Hiashi and I, by appearances, so that means she would be near the top of the class above us, not bad.

Her hobby sounds useless, but if she does it quickly and without a table her manual dexterity must be really high. Orochimaru, complex person though he was, simply pointed at Hiashi, an unreadable grin now on his face.

"I have no hobby, I appreciate my brother, I'm grateful for Nanashi-san, and I wish to lead my clan effectively in the future." I see, short winded, as he tends to be in casual settings.

"Ah, but, Hiashi-kun, you haven't told us what you _hate."_

"Of course Orochimaru-sensei, I dislike being insulted by those inferior to me." That sounds really stuck-up when he says it, but really, don't we all feel this way?

"And now for my own self, I like training and science, I dislike foolish weaklings and powerless politicians, my hobby is learning new techniques, and my dream… my goal, is to learn every single technique I can, especially kinjutsu."

And there we have it, Orochimaru's driving force, the appetite for learning that can never be sated, the desire for power that can never be achieved, the longing for immortality. I suppose I'll never learn all there is to know about this my third sensei. He's sadistic, and ready to do anything for what he wants.

"What about our real test?"

"Real test? We just graduated, Uchiha-san." Kaede admonished, certainly not unkindly.

"How astute Nanashi-kun," Orochimaru spoke up, just as Kaede's brain caught up, "I think you'll love what I have for you."

With trepidation I followed Orochimaru out to a training field that was a good bit away from any training ninja, suspicious, possibly fatal.

"I really only have one thing to say, survive."

I jumped up and away, even as snakes burst from the ground under where my feet had been, fangs open. The smallish snakes used in the technique immediately went back underground, to my annoyance.

Hiashi's eyes bulged, the Byakugan activating, even as I channeled chakra to my own eyes, activating the Sharingan.

"Oh my, three-tomoe already, you really are peculiar." I lurched forward; Orochimaru's breath on my ear had really startled me.

Of course, if Itachi were around he'd laugh at me and write me off, right now though, I'm one of the greatest talents in the Uchiha clan since Madara. Bragging fully intended and justified.

Snakes bit at my previous location, proving the necessity of distancing myself from the Sannin. Orochimaru lazily batted away some kunai that Kaede and Hiashi had thrown, understandably bored.

I had nothing on him, there was absolutely no way I could even _survive_ if he really came at me. Was this a test of cunning, or courage?

"Katon!" I yelled, drawing the snake summoner's vision back to me, nothing happened, nothing was meant to. Orochimaru stood still for a moment, his Kage-level senses searching for what I had done; he realized almost too late that it was a ruse, the next barrage of Kunai flying just shy of his frame.

"Indeed, most unconventional, but you know well enough that such petty things won't work on me, surprise me."

"Ah, but the objective is survive, no rules on either party, I think that our team would fail if I killed you." I replied with false bravado.

"Indeed it would, Nanashi-kun, but let's see you try."

I blazed through the hand seals for the Phoenix Sage Fire, launching it wordlessly at the expectant Sannin. Orochimaru easily evaded my homing fireballs, dodging them without trouble.

"Case in point," I said simply.

"But it's no fun if you don't try; I went through a lot of trouble to be the one to teach you."

"Well, you have three students."

"Oh yes, I certainly do, unless one died already, hmm?" He looked behind himself; I followed his gaze and noted with annoyance that clones were taking care of them.

"Then you are a clone as well?"

Orochimaru grinned down at me, "The original is far too busy of a man to actually come in person."

"Mud clone? Or shadow?"

"My, my, to even know my preferences, I didn't take you far a detective, kuku."

"In any case, that means I have at least a chance."

"I was hoping you'd say that, the original would be so disappointed if I got nothing."

Something I learned from this encounter was a simple fact, even clones movements could be predicted by the Sharingan, but I also couldn't tell a clone from the real one. At least shadow clones anyway, assuming that this is a shadow.

On that tangent, I don't really know much about clone techniques at all, although they are incredibly useful, completely reliable allies. Well, reliable to the extent of their durability.

Orochimaru seemed to bore of my continued thinking, jump-starting the fight.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin!" Orochimaru's clone announced with aplomb, showing off his rather impressive skill with the technique.

I hit the dirt, finding no other viable solution to the rather serious problem, honestly, what happened to this test that made it become life-or-death? Orochimaru, that's what. The snake wielder was easily the greatest talent the village currently had, perhaps minus Minato.

True to his ruthless reputation, the man attacked my prone form, almost landing a vital blow before I rolled away and stood.

I cocked my head both ways before righting it, signifying that the game was on.

"Kunai no Jutsu!" I yelled, all the while throwing shuriken; throwing the enemy off by calling something it really wasn't was one of my favorite tactics.

"Really Nanashi-kun, I know you can do better." I know I can too, but the intellectual knowledge that there's no way I can survive this is really bearing down.

Of course, I also have the knowledge that there's no way he would just kill me, he isn't yet 'immortal' so he won't risk making the Uchiha angry, let alone his own sensei. So, armed with my new-found confidence I stepped forward, taking a well-practiced taijutsu stance.

"Finally, let's see what you got, little Uchiha." He took his own stance, that of the snake style, most likely.

Ok, stay on the ground, never over-commit, let's do this. I sprang forward, lithe as a tiger, gunning for the older and paler man's solar plexus. The yellow-eyed instrument of death was hardly phased by my feeble attempt, opting to just lean back out of reach.

Punk wants me to over-commit does he, wants to make me angry does he? Well, this brat isn't that stupid, old boy.

"Say, if you're a clone, how do you deal with the issue of free-will?"

"The master commands and the non-permanents obey, simple."

I see, so the trick to having clones that don't argue is: Impress upon yourself the philosophy you want them to have. Good to know, although it's just confirmation.

"In that case, are you as good as the original at taijutsu?"

"We are one and the same, yet I work under a disadvantage." Powerful enough to share secrets for free are we? I'll bite.

"Incorrect, you are superior, unless the real one has been watching; you technically have more knowledge, considering our last exchange."

"The master was already aware of that move."

"And yet he hasn't seen me use it on him has he? So, if only marginally, you know more."

"It matters not, in short hours, my knowledge shall be his."

"Katon: Fiery Beheading!" Gosh, buying time for hand-seals behind the back can be such a pain.

"I have not seen this technique for a while, interesting."

The string of fire careened toward the Sannin, hopelessly curling around at his waist level. Well, maybe it wasn't hopeless; I don't think clones can make other clones of any kind.

With alacrity I sent my ring of fire inwards, hoping to dispel the clone. Orochimaru wasn't S-rank for his pale skin and prominent cheekbones however, and he evaded the attack with a precise jump. Sharingan telling me he would before he did, I was already throwing kunai at his new position.

Orochimaru made a single seal, and the kunai embedded itself in a log, blasted Kawarimi.

I scanned the area quickly, finally settling on Orochimaru's figure.

"You like that?" I asked, tauntingly.

"Kukuku, yes, yes I think I did, I didn't expect you to force me to use the log."

"Well, too bad you had a log to use."

"Really, that's not nice Nanashi-kun; it's as if you want me dead."

"I want you dispelled; I have no intention of losing to a clone of all things."

"I'm sure you don't, but you'll have to try harder, much harder." He smirked.

"Fine, Shuriken Kage Bunshin!" I grinned as Orochimaru's eyes widened, the copied technique catching him by surprise. Still, that little stunt cost me; shadow clone techniques cost plenty of chakra. Eh, well, I packed some soup, so no worries.

Orochimaru's widened eyes morphed into a grin, even as he threw his own Shuriken, multiplying it to the exact number I had, each one dispelling one of my own. The two real shuriken met dead center, deflecting each other far and away.

"Really, sensei? Do you have any idea how hard it is to find lost kunai and shuriken, even with my eyes it's a real pain." Seriously, only idiots leave gear behind. That cost me like half a ryo probably, way too expensive.

"How petty, a single shuriken can be easily replaced as long as you are near a ninja village."

So he admits that a single shuriken is worth something far away from a supplier, as intelligent as expected. Nevertheless, losing gear and just letting it go is a massive waste, plus I kind of lied, with my Sharingan active I can see the trajectory of a flying projectile fairly easily, so I know within 2 meters where the shuriken landed.

"Still, Sensei, I think we'd better finish this up."

"Of course, eager to be sent back for another year are we?"

"I may not be a genius, so I don't know what the point of this test is, but have fun!" I made a hand-seal, flooding the area with my most efficient clones, and running in the direction of my teammates.

I found Hiashi first, the Orochimaru clone present lazily avoiding the boy's lightning quick strikes, it was almost disconcerting. I took out my whip, channeling fire chakra down its length.

With nary a cry I lanced forward, hoping to deal a blow to the clone enough to dispel it. Hope is for naïve people though; so I reinforced my efforts, I _would _dispel this clone.

Split between Hiashi and myself, with self-imposed limits, and both of his opponents possessing doujutsu was too much for the clone. I took a blow to my left arm in exchange, however.

"The next one is here."

"Really, how useless was my clone over here, to lose to genin." Orochimaru stated more than asked, then he continued, "I liked the clone trick, Nanashi-kun, but really, if I wasn't dumbing myself down, I would have seen through it in under a second."

"Ah, but I still got what I wanted," Even if it did take almost all my remaining chakra.

"But look, you're wounded," He suddenly stopped moving, afterimage!

I looked down at my arm, watching as the snake summoner licked my wound, tasting my blood.

"Hmm, curious, your blood tastes no different from the next little genin's; perhaps blood-line is a misnomer?"

I casually ripped off my left sleeve, tying it around my wound to stop the flow of blood, no reason to let the freak know how disgusting I thought that was.

"How's Hironaka-san?" I asked both present.

"I'm afraid our little female friend won't last much longerrrr." Orochimaru hissed in reply, no doubt wanting to see me react like some shounen hero.

"Well, that's an unfortunate loss, for now, let's deal with you." I stabbed a kunai into the clone's gut, only to hit the same stupid log from before.

I had ceased channeling chakra to my whip as soon as the other clone dispelled, and now, wary of chakra exhaustion, I did not resume the exercise. Instead, I forced my battered body to move, engaging Orochimaru in a taijutsu bout.

I kept my upper body slightly leaned forward, still stable enough to move easily, though it did compromise some of my kicks. Nevertheless, against a much faster ninja like Orochimaru, speed was everything, and kicks were slow.

I tried my best, hoping to dispel the clone with one good hit, but somehow, the tall thing survived, absorbing the blows like nothing happened. It was frustrating; here I was, against a single clone that was winning.

Seriously, one hit and he should be dead, the clone even admitted to self-imposed limits, and he clearly had more jutsu in his arsenal.

All I needed was one hit though, that only took one second. I looked my new sensei in the eye turning everything in his view black. This was my favorite optical impairment technique, a genjutsu that temporarily made the signals from eye to brain inert.

It was unsubtle like crazy, but in a shinobi fight, it was pure gold. Unable to escape my genjutsu - my Sharingan made it so much easier - in time, the clone dissolved into nothing but chakra smoke.

Two down, one to go.

I smirked, then wobbled, dang chakra exhaustion.

"Finish the other one, Hiashi." I outright commanded before the darkness took me.

"Kukuku, how impressive Nanashi-kun, you managed to get two of me."

I groggily awoke, noting the smell of grass, so, I was still at the training ground. I dutifully glanced at the sun, two hours then.

"Not on my own."

"How humble."

"So, did we pass?"

"You and your teammates displayed an adequate level of skill, an acceptable team spirit, and commendable spirit in completing the assignment," Orochimaru stated observationally.

"That wasn't my question."

Orochimaru scowled back at me, "Yes, I am now officially teaching all three of you."

"Excellent, sorry for calling you by your first name only Hiashi-san, I hope you will excuse the familiarity."

"It is of no consequence, you were under obviously significant stress and such minor missteps are to be expected."

"Well, I am duly grateful for the understanding." I had stood as he spoke; now I bowed slightly to him.

"Orochimaru-sensei, I hope to learn much under your tutelage." I turned to the man as I spoke, making a Chinese gesture of greeting as I did so. Or was it Korean? Memory never was my strong suit, though with all the mental acuity of an Uchiha I find it easier by far now.

"Come tomorrow at five in the morning, and don't be late, I'm a busy man." Orochimaru left after saying as much, obviously finding no need to play politics with brats.

"In that case, I look forward to being your teammate, Hiashi-san, Kaede-san."

Hiashi nodded, but Hironaka found the urge to speak up, "I hope you're as good as they say boys."

"As I do not know what _they _say, I can only hope I am better, nevertheless, we have all graduated early, so I presume all of us have talent, which is good, Orochimaru-sensei doesn't bother with idiots."

"Heh, as if _you _know about him."

"We all have our secrets." I answered cryptically, before continuing, "Good-day, Minna-san."

Minna-san means everyone, and I used this shorthand as I was tired of saying everybody's name all the time. I left, excited and at the same time, dreading what was to come. Shinobi laughed like all the rest, but they also saw things that would make WWII vets puke, it wasn't an easy life, though lucrative.

The next day came with no special aplomb, the Naruto-verse not even seeing this as a significant day. I saved any training for later but did not neglect to stretch out my still-weary body. Yesterday had been a true awakening; S-rank meant death to those who were not at least A-rank. I was a C-rank shinobi, good enough, if lucky, to pass the chunin exams.

But Orochimaru wasn't even twice my age, and he was light-years more powerful, my work was indeed cut out for me if I wanted to confront Madara himself.

I set out for the training ground, noting now that Orochimaru hadn't actually specified a location. So I could only assume that we were to return to the location from the day before.

Luckily, the Sharingan's memory function served me well; I easily spotted the training ground, and immediately went to it. I checked my watch, five minutes early, perfect.

Kaede arrived within the minute, making her second there; I saw no reason to be standoffish; so I began a conversation, "Good morning, Hironaka-san."

"Just call me Kaede."

"But of course, then you must call me Nanashi."

"Look, save your clan-talk for clan business."

"Ah, but I cannot break proper etiquette, Kaede-san."

"If you don't listen to me, I'll teach you your place, youngling."

"Tut, tut, a fight so early? Do tell me you'll finish." Hironaka and I looked up to find Orochimaru staring blankly down at us, Hiashi off to the side.

"Good morning Orochimaru-sensei. I look forward to whatever excuse of a mission we'll be getting."

"Oh yes, I'm afraid you'll be learning how to bury dead bodies today," He grinned.

"An exceedingly useful endeavor, shall we proceed?"

"Yes." Kaede said tersely.

Hiashi nodded slowly, betraying nothing with his practiced Hyuuga façade. An emotionless visage is not as useful as an expressive and tightly controlled one, but it does nicely.

Orochimaru lead the way without further ado, bringing us at a brisk pace to a place in the dirtiest of states. The morgue.

"What's this? Come to drop off live bodies finally, Hebi?"

"No, I'm pained to say that these ones are not to be dissected, instead we'll be taking what's left of the ones you've dealt with." I have to say, that first part would have been funny if he weren't so dead serious.

"Help yourself; bags are in stock so you're in luck."

I wiped my wrist over my nose as we stepped into the next room. Upon seeing the cargo, I nearly puked.

Displayed, almost neatly, on tables were organs, bones, tissue, even vivisected eyes.

"Everyone, even civilians, has a story to tell, even after death. You'll find this place is well guarded once you're more skilled," The snake Sannin explained neutrally.

"So this is what Konoha does with dead bodies?" I asked, my voice nearly quavering, well, it was, a little.

"Not all of them, particularly, Clan shinobi are burnt without any doctoring."

"To protect clan secrets, I see." I shook myself, "Well, we bag the stuff and dump it in a hole, yes?"

"Yes." He looked down at me, my own height dwarfed by one of the tallest men in Konoha's.

"Knew I should have brought gloves, ah well," No sense dwelling on it, a job needs to be done quickly.

I spotted a bag, opened it up, and began filling it with the contents of a single table. The guy who dissects these is probably at least an A-rank shinobi, my mind idly noted.

Perhaps a sealing scroll would work better? Too expensive, the ink takes much care and trouble to make, not to mention the seal itself. Nonetheless, depending on the tote distance, it might be needed.

Hiashi, while saying nothing, was clearly disgusted, but he took it well all considered. Kaede though… she was positively green, no doubt imagining herself as one of these unfortunate dead bodies. Not that the bodies care.

"Look, it's not like they cut these guys up alive, and when they are dead, they don't feel a thing."

Kaede's head whipped over in my direction, "So you think this is fine?"

"It is, we're shinobi, ninja deal with dead almost as much as necromancers, this shouldn't bother you after the initial shock. Indeed, the Nidaime even developed a sacrificial resurrection technique."

Orochimaru looked down at me, eyes interested, Hiashi looked spooked, and Kaede gaped like a fish. Is it not common knowledge? Whoops.

"Enough talk, finish up, or I'll choose a part of you to put in with this mess."

"As you say, Sensei," I continued with my morbid task, watching as Hironaka and the Hyuuga did the same.

We toted the bodies over to a coffin, and even nailed down the boards, it seemed that we wouldn't be burying bodies ourselves, despite previous preconceptions. The number of parts totaled to five whole bodies, it seems Konoha truly is large.

After receiving our pay, split five ways that it was, we marched over to the training ground which Team Orochimaru was beginning to think of as their own. Well, the kids at least.

The tall, and impossibly pale, Sannin clapped his hands once, "So, what did we learn today?" On paper it looked friendly, but his eager expression and tone ruined that effect.

"That Konoha subsidizes dissection of dead bodies." I refused to phrase it as a question, as that made one seem unreliable.

"Indeed, anything else?" He stared disturbingly at Kaede, making her quite uncomfortable.

"That genin don't make that much money?"

"Why yes they do," He whipped out a kunai and threw it past her face, drawing a thin line of blood, "Rank means nothing in a fight, remember that."

"And the Hokage can assign a mission to anyone he pleases," I added, just to come off as a smart aleck.

"Yes, he can, so be careful who you offend," Orochimaru stated, nearly viciously, really, he likes to scare you, doesn't he?

"I'll be careful, sensei."

"Now, let's see you three fight; no rules, no stops, no teams."

Free for all eh? Those always suck, gotta hang back for now then. All at once, the tree of us leaped back and away, taking cover in the nearest tree grove.

Hiashi can see everything, so if I go after Kaede - the obvious choice - he'll pick me off. That means I need to finish Hiashi fast, then I can get over and take out the girl.

He said no rules, but I doubt killing is an acceptable response, I'm sure my team feels the same way. Hiashi went left, so that's where I'll go.

Sharingan spinning warily I advanced, taking pains to make no noise, Hiashi might see everything, but Kaede does not. I found the Hyuuga waiting for me, no doubt believing an ambush to be useless, with kunai drawn.

"I assume we're not killing each other?" I asked, just to be sure.

"The political fallout would be too great; besides, a dead teammate would put me in an ill-favored setup."

"Then we are in agreement," I drew my whip, instantly sending fire chakra down its length, the non-lethal burns would serve me better than the razor-like quality of raw chakra in metal.

Hiashi threw kunai in a wide arc, lowering damage to prevent dodging. I sidestepped one and deflected another with a kunai held in my left hand.

I advanced quickly, lashing out with my blazing whip, careful to not leave an opening. Hiashi, having fought my whip before, had a slight advantage, but the excess range of my whip kept his highly taijutsu reliant style at a loss. In the end, the match-up was nearly even, but Kaede would interfere sooner or later.

This had to end fast; however, close range was out of the question, the risk of closed tenketsu being far too high. And, unlike in one-on-one duels, I would not have time to recover before my next fight.

I sprang forward, whip dancing beside me, Hiashi did not take the bait, instead he avoided all my blows expertly, it seemed I'd have to make moves that would cost him more to dodge. I began throwing kunai with my left hand, amateurishly wielding my whip all the while.

Let it not be said that I am ambidextrous, for I am not. Despite my failing concentration and poor left-handed accuracy, Hiashi was kept at bay. This wouldn't end at this rate, I retracted my chakra, stowing my whip away quickly and blazing through hand-seals.

Hiashi quickly saw the jutsu I was about to perform but he was too far back to stop it, instead, he threw shuriken at me.

I leaned to the side as I completed my hand-signs, a skill I had spent days on, dodging the projectiles.

"Katon: Phoenix Sage Fire." I stated, noticing, as always, that the power was less than when I yelled the name full-force. However, power was no object, if Hiashi was hit; he'd be burnt enough that he'd most likely pass out.

The chakra-directed fireballs were not to be denied, despite Hiashi's best efforts, he had no counter-jutsu for it, and my control of the technique was such that it hardly deteriorated at all. So, after a brilliant dodge, wasting four of my five fireballs, Hiashi was hit in the air, causing him to fall heavily.

Kaede's kunai hurt, I decided, as I pulled it out of my shoulder, flesh wound, lucky. Time for retaliation.

I withdrew explosive tags from my person, hastily inserting them into the rings on kunai I had also drawn, adrenaline pumping, I ignored the pain in my left shoulder, opting to focus on my task.

"Give up, little boy, you're wounded."

"I'll give up, when I have no chance of winning!" I threw my now-dangerous kunai at Kaede, using my Sharingan to keep track of her and throw them on target.

"I hope you live," I smirked as she noticed the tag and began to curse, "Katsu!"

A loud boom echoed through the area, ah, lucky, a sound-dominant one. With a design that boasted terrifying noise, in exchange for lethality, the sound-dominant was great for making people look in its direction.

I examined the damage, noting with satisfaction that Hironaka looked quite bull-dozed and was bleeding from her face. The concussive force had knocked her clean out.

"Sensei! I win!" I yelled, unnecessarily as Orochimaru was already behind me.

"Kuku, how impressive, Nanashi-kun," He picked up Kaede, throwing her unceremoniously over his shoulder.

"I'll wake up Hiashi-san." I meandered over to the fallen Hyuuga, now feeling the intense pain in my shoulder, and the aches elsewhere.

"Up, Hyuuga heir, it is not befitting for one of your standing to lie prone on the ground!"

Hiashi shot up smartly, pulling himself into a hilariously formal position, hilarious because he, and his clothes, was burnt, not to mention his leaf-infested hair.

"Let's make a trip to Konoha's hospital," I stated more than asked, already beginning to haul myself in that direction.

Orochimaru looked us over, and then began walking to the same location.

As it turned out, a piece of shrapnel had pierced Kaede's right cheek, finally impacting, and subsequently breaking, one of her teeth, it was a minor injury that left a small quantity of scar tissue.

Hiashi was quickly healed by med-nin because of his burns. He bore no resentment, fortunately.

As for myself, I was put in a hospital bed for a day, worse luck.

Mother fussed a little, but was far too used to injured family to be shaken to a large degree, Father was adamant that I should have been able to avoid the kunai, but forgave me. Fugaku was generally silent and hard to read during the visit, but I thought I saw disdain when he looked at the wound.

I am not so self-centered as to believe he was disdainful of me, instead attributing it to the possibility that he was unimpressed with the hospital's rule that I had to have bed-rest. Of course, I could be thinking in an entirely incorrect direction, but it matters little.

Hiroshi-sensei dropped by, thoughtfully dumping a couple of books I had mentioned I was reading off at my bedside. Where he got them I don't know, but it really is of no consequence, unless he paid for them, in which case I'd feel quite bad.

Soon enough the end of the next day rolled around, and I was discharged with no fuss. I do hope Orochimaru-sensei isn't displeased by this little set-back, but if I had to say, he went off and did some super-secret mission while I healed.

The next morning came with no special events, which was always good, a special surprise for ninja usually equaled death. I ate breakfast quickly, putting on my least-valuable set of clothes in preparation for another dirty job.

I found the rest of the team waiting; I must have arrived on the dot then, because I'm never late. I decided not to wave, the action being far too casual for a noble.

"Greetings, Orochimaru-sensei, Hiashi-san, Kaede-san, how are you today?"

"We're quite alright, Nanashi-kun, now let's get to it," Orochimaru replied tersely, obviously on some kind of schedule.

Rather than replying, I nodded demurely, waiting for Orochimaru to get to it.

"D-ranks, my poor little genin, are the majority of your diet."

Kaede was clearly in severe trepidation about the whole affair, our last D-rank being a little more than any of us kids bargained for. Hiashi betrayed nothing, on his face, the subtle way his feet turned to retreat told another story.

I narrowed my eyes, but was reasonably sure that our last experience was a one-time thing. Nevertheless, paranoia was a shinobi's friend.

As it turned out, we would be fixing pot-holes, why genin had this job I had no idea, it's not as if ninja labor came cheap. Guys of a vocation that would leave them well-qualified for such a task were not in a shortage after-all.

"You'll use this, don't keep me waiting." Previous assumptions aside, it seemed Orochimaru was quickly becoming disillusioned with being a jonin-sensei.

On a more important note, the snake Sannin had pointed out a dark slop, smelling heavily of tar. I spotted five-gallon buckets nearby, clearly for the purpose a toting this less than superb material. Also nearby were shovels, luckily enough, so I got a bucket and a shovel and began loading it most of the way up.

As expected, the slop was heavy, but a ninja's strength is not to be belittled. Hiashi had already started going for the buckets before I had even started shoveling, and Kaede followed quickly.

Orochimaru made no move to correct us, so I assumed I had guessed accurately. Shovel and bucket in hand, we went through several streets, filling in potholes with the warm slop.

By the time Orochimaru told us we'd done enough we all smelled like some kind of… well, whatever they call tar-men. To put it in another way, we stunk of asphalt.

Our newest sensei then dragged us over to the training ground, obviously unwilling to allow no training to be done.

"Now, I hate complaining an idiocy. Walk up these trees."

Fortunately for me, I had long-since mastered the art of tree-walking. So I picked out a tree, noting that Hiashi was already beginning on his own one. Kaede, it seemed, was also aware of the exercise, though her proficiency was not as high, it was still quite decent.

Perhaps this was the 'talent' team of the year? It was inconsequential, right now, I needed to impress Orochimaru more than either of my teammates, moral issues aside, he was incredibly powerful, and decidedly talented, after all, he was Sarutobi's favorite.

"Good, good, continue," We all did so, up until the point he began throwing kunai at us.

"You flesh-bags! I said continue!" He was angry we hadn't caught on it seemed.

So, reluctantly, we walked up and down trees, dodging kunai and groaning under the abdominal strain. The ab strength needed to remain 'upright' as you walked side-ways was not inconsiderable.

Orochimaru, it seemed, was not entirely devoted to his rather sadistic task, opting to read some book while we all did our thing, even as he tossed kunai with his other hand. As I later found, the book was a kinjutsu book, Orochimaru's one never-ending interest.

Kinjutsu, to the uneducated, are jutsu that are forbidden, for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, moral concerns, chakra consumption, wide-spread destruction, and general suicidal nature. An example of the second would be Naruto's famous Tajuu Kage Bunshin, costing so much that even a Kage would run the risk of chakra exhaustion.

Suicidal were, curiously, poorly documented, an unfortunate result of the death of their creator. Most of them were just theoretical due to this rather incriminating set-back.

At length, our rather tortuous session ended, and Orochimaru sent us home without aplomb. It seemed that this would become our new general pattern, D-rank, train, go home.

Yes, truly, this was the beginning of my life As a Ninja.

**So, finally chapter nine is out, laziness is a writer's enemy.**

**Anyway, I hope the lot of you enjoyed, and I hope you'll review.**

**Writing Orochimaru was hard, and will be, since his pre-defection personality isn't exactly well-documented. Also hard because, if you haven't caught it, I've only actually read 4 or 5 lines from him in the manga.**

**So, wishing you all a happy thanksgiving, Iamwhononofyouare.**


	10. 10 Science of Chakra

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or even As a Ninja, so while I do like to get credit, I can't even stop you from copying this word-****e I do like to get credit, I can'****for-word.**

**Chapter 10**

As it turned out, this was my schedule for the next month, and while Orochimaru could be irritable at times, he wasn't unlikeable. Truly, if he was, why would his minions and students have practically worshipped him? Future minions and students, of course, Kaede and Hiashi were still wary of him.

And, to be perfectly honest, I was wary of every single person in this world, even my wonderful mother. So, it goes without saying that with a future body-stealer like Orochimaru, I was cautious, if eager to learn his many tricks.

As time went by, it became clear that when Orochimaru was not training us or running missions, he was training himself very diligently. In contrast to his perhaps-friend Jiraiya, who was always peeping it seemed; it was clear why he had become the Hokage's favorite student.

On a side note, Minato and I crossed paths once, and he seemed to be doing rather well for himself, I took great pains to get friendly with him without being obvious, and, if the fact that we're meeting now is anything to go by, I succeeded.

"Minato-san, good afternoon," There really was no way we could have met in the morning, both of us having teachers who ate up the morning.

"Good afternoon, Nanashi."

I really don't mind the familiarity, and, though constant practice makes me loath to reciprocate it, I do try.

"What's on the agenda, future Hokaga-sama?" I asked completely seriously, even giving a little show of respect in the form of a tiny bow.

"We both know that you don't think I'll actually make it, though I will."

"Actually, I disagree, if I may say so, within twenty years you'll be Hokage." I replied, utterly sincere, and, since I was, this was easy.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Nanashi, how's your sensei?"

"Extremely pale, slightly disturbing, rather sadistic, and refreshingly dedicated, yours?"

Minato grinned before reciting his own sensei's description, "Extremely perverted, slightly admirable, rather funny, and refreshingly… hmm ah! Friendly."

"Nice, although I'm sure someday even you will respect him." I smirked.

"Hey! I respect all my teachers!"

Typical, "I guess you'll also respect me then, since I've taught you."

"Taught me what?"

Oh ho, time for a learning experience, "Everyone has something to teach, from me you learned about my own fighting style, you taught me that some things _are _predictable, and that talent isn't obvious at first glance."

"Huh."

"Anyway, I've got some money; want to grab something to eat?"

I hate to skip out on family dinner, but cultivating relationships really shouldn't be despised.

"Sure, if you're buying."

Of course, for an orphan like Minato, he's probably just scraping by, so while he acts tough, I'm sure he'd make some excuse and leave if he was paying, not that I mind. Well, then again, I do mind, I always mind my money; the world runs on money and chakra, in varying ratios every second.

Now I sound like Kakuzu, well, not that I hate sounding like an S-rank nin.

We went over to Yakiniku Q, which was, interestingly enough, around even now.

The succulent taste of barbecue, it really has been too long.

"Ah, Minato, eat as much as you want, if I run dry I'll just put it on my tab."

"Your tab?"

"A subtle benefit of being in a clan, most restaurants let you make a tab with no problems, because you're that much less likely to not pay, lots of 'em do it for active ninja too."

"That's certainly a curious piece of trivia."

"Just one of those things you learn randomly." Actually, some author saw fit to insert pretty much what I just said in a little side note. Not that Minato needs to know, and it _was_ random, so really not a lie.

The Namikaze appeared to enjoy his meal, if the gusto with which he kept eating was anything to go by. At length, the meal ended, and I walked the other boy home, cracking a joke about protecting him from a certain ferocious Uzumaki as I did so.

I got home rather late, to be expected, but I considered it to be worth the trouble, in any case, my family was not inconvenienced, as I had told them the day before.

"Back from frolicking with no-names?" Fugaku asked, displeased that I had given time of the day to an orphan.

I smirked back at my brother, "Curiously enough, he does have a name, Namikaze Minato." I replied, in no way miffed about the whole affair, in fact I found it amusing.

"He has no family."

"And neither do Orochimaru-sensei, or Jiraiya-san, yet they still garner respect wherever they go."

"This Namikaze is no Hokage's student, nor is he a jonin."

"Ah but you see Nii-san, mark my words; he will be Hokage."

"You've bought into that rubbish? I didn't take you for an idiot."

"And for that I am thankful. But rubbish it is not, simple fact stands supreme." I stated, not said, not asked, not exclaimed, I stated, and it visibly shook Fugaku's opinion.

"I look forward to seeing if you are a prophet." So saying, the older male turned and went to his room.

"So do I, Nii-san, so do I," I whispered to his shut door.

I grabbed a book out of my little library, _Comprehensive List of Clans_ I looked at the date, good, it was a new book. Reading it turned out quite informative, the little lecture in the Academy was written by the sensei it seemed, not standard issue text-book material.

How do I know you ask? I found out that Konoha has more clans than I thought. Though to be frank, some are not 'recognized' which, quite simply, means that as far as Konoha is concerned, they enjoy no special rights.

Of course, prominent recognized clans include the Senju, Sarutobi, and Shimura.

In any case, Fugaku-nii's frustration is disappointing, if amusing, but if he doesn't change I might have to usurp; seriously, getting into the whole coup thing is not on my to-do list. That being said, I have arrogance in my abilities, I'm sure I can stop the whole coup/massacre, they _are _related to the Kyuubi attack, I'm just not sure how.

Really, I should have looked at the wiki more and learned all this 'useless' trivia.

Nonetheless, I'm afraid that the simple fact is, my influence is not to be overestimated, nor should I believe that nothing is different, truly, things shall be different, for I have influenced Minato of all people.

Time flies while you're sleeping, so, in my aching opinion, the night was all too short. But, Orochimaru is nothing if not demanding, and punctual for that matter, so I doubt highly that I'll be heading over to the training ground late.

Because, let's be honest, who doesn't like pleasing their teacher, to a degree at least? Actually, don't answer that, I might be rather put out with the answer.

Muddled mentalities and boring thoughts aside, I needed to go, so go I did.

As it turned out, I was the first there anyway, and I doubt that I misheard where to meet up. Oh well, nothing like stretches to while away the time.

"Good morning, Nanashi-kun."

I bolted upright, stupid me, I should have been paying more attention, "Good morning, Sensei."

"Where are the other two whelps?"

"Behind you."

"Good." Kaede and Hiashi came out from behind Orochimaru as he said this.

Little tests and subtle trials were the name of the game; Orochimaru paid attention to detail and expected the same from his students. Usually, he would test the one who got to the training ground first, which is why I was targeted today.

Generally, I woke up impossibly sore from the day before's labor.

"What's on the agenda today?"

"Dodging as usual," I looked up, wondering why he hadn't said what D-rank was for today, "After our very own lawn mowing mission."

Orochimaru's protruding cheekbones suddenly looked more sinister; for some accursed reason gas-powered lawn-mowers were a thing not yet discovered. Therefore, the push-mowers in use were completely human-powered.

Of course, this was not without benefits, a ninja should always be training or getting ready to, and pushing around a 'lawn-mower' is good exercise. Nevertheless, the eventual extreme boredom of constant D-ranks weighs on a boy's mind, perhaps this was the point?

Or am I, perchance, seeing conspiracies in the shadows? Well, they do say that paranoia, not extreme, is a shinobi's friend.

Theories of grand plans to improve the mental integrity of rookie genin aside, I had a lawn to mow. With chakra enhanced dispersion of lactic acid, ninja could last almost twice as long as a normal person.

Time passed, and the job was completed, so, after receiving our pay, we met up at our very own training ground. Well, not that anyone but Konoha owns them.

"So, what have we learned today?"

"We have learned nothing, because some of the lessons some of us learned were already learned by others of us," Okay, so I like sassing off with technically correct stuff, what kid doesn't?

"No, we learned that you are most disrespectful."

I nodded, conceding the point without useless argument.

"And as such, a lesson must be taught, no?"

None of us answered. Orochimaru was completely stoic and calm; his general attitude, the insanity from constant body jumping and experimentation not yet present.

"Run little hatchlings, run." He spoke abruptly, snakes emerging from the ground around him and out of his loose clothing.

Fangs nearly gleaming, the obviously poisonous snakes began chasing all three of us; apparently, we were ready for a real life-or-death situation. Or maybe the snake man was just eager to see us terrified.

Well, it's not as if we weren't used to this behavior by now, as our new kunai-dodging abilities could attest to.

And so, run we did, and we ran quickly indeed, have I ever mentioned how very fast snakes are? Too fast for comfort, if I do say so myself.

"Stupid snakes, Sensei will just get you killed," I turned as I said this, pausing before, "Katon: Great Fireball!"

Hand-seals already finished, the technique spewed out from by mouth in its flame-thrower form; fiery agony encased several snakes to slow to get away, burnt to a crisp before they could even protest.

Hiashi and Kaede looked jealous, ah, civilian born kunoichi, and super-taijutsu family Hyuuga, not surprising then that they have no ninjutsu of destructive nature.

Well, they can wallow in that jealousy, I'm not just going to find jutsu to teach them because they looked miffed they hadn't thought of it already. Honestly, for genin, the library is a true treasure trove of useful stuff.

Pushing such things away from my already over-packed mental state; more snakes were coming quickly. And, frankly, I don't fancy dying in some twisted training session.

So, the answer is simple, don't die. I think that's the point Orochimaru-sensei really wants to drive home here, the will to live. Without doing something truly satisfying we, as humans, are not ready to die, and so we try to live.

Maybe I'm reading into a different angle than he is trying for, but I'm fairly sure this is the gist.

I channeled chakra to my whip, activating my Sharingan as I did so. A few downward and diagonal lashes finished what snakes were close, but I kept my Sharingan on, knowing that this could be the end.

And boy was it not, if a snake five times my size is anything to go by. Inside was panicking slightly, but I had an image to keep up, Uchiha pride and all that.

I flipped back a hair that wasn't even in my way, "Wow. Are you trying to kill me?" I asked, with a completely deadpan monotone voice.

I looked so thoroughly unimpressed that the semi-intelligent snake paused, looking back to its summoner.

"Stupid snake, attack!" Was Orochimaru's angry reply to the un-vocalized question.

The green, enormous, snake looked back to me, licking its lips at the thought of my deliciousness. Well, I certainly hope that's why.

"I yawn at you." I stated, making no move to actually yawn. This, despite its mute state, clearly angered the vicious viper, and it showed as much by coming at me.

Fast.

Well, chakra sticks to a tree, good thing ninja are fast too. I looked down from my leafy perch, noting with a pained visage that the snake was easily tall enough to come get me. Not that I ever intended to just sit here.

I sped through the hand-seals again, this time with slightly different intent, "Katon: Great Fireball!" A massive ball of super-hot chakra emerged from my mouth with all the fury of a ten year-old.

The snake quickly changed its tack, speeding off to the side to avoid death. I assume _not_ death, not really sure how summons work actually, don't they just get un-summoned?

Point being, in a poof of smoke, after its tail had been hit, the snake disappeared.

"Was that allowed, or do I have to not fight back?"

"You just have to," He was behind me without my even knowing, "Liiiive."

I automatically jumped away, fortunate for my state of life if the number of presumably poisonous snakes at my former position was anything to go by.

"Of course sensei, is it not a teacher's most treasured wish to see his students succeed in life?"

"But of course you'd read into things, I just don't want to waste my time on talentless fools."

I've gotta say, if I were Anko I'd think something like 'wow, he really does want the best for me, he's just being awkward about it!' and worship him silently from the shadows. Knowing Orochimaru's so called 'evilness' though, I have to think, 'this guy really does value his time, huh?'

I wasn't awfully eager to keep using chakra to defeat the infinity snakes, but to be honest, there wasn't much choice. So, spend chakra I did, with great effect.

By the end of our little survival session I was utterly exhausted, and completely in awe of the sheer quantity of snakes summoned.

I like to think that there was a point, other than intense exercise and proof of the will to live, but for the life of me I can't figure out what. That's not to say I'm unimpressed with the whole affair, instead I was rather awed by Orochimaru's level of power, and thoroughly surprised that I made it to the end.

**1 Month Later**

Here it is, the glorious conclusion of two weeks of work and my personal best fuinjutsu accomplishment: Chakra Storage.

It's really quite simple, all you do is put chakra into some kind of object, even liquids will do, and then seal that object into a scroll tightly.

Of course, this in itself would mean nothing, but I, in my great intelligence, have discovered that chakra can be recovered. It's actually so intensely inefficient that it's no wonder it's not common practice, a chakra pill is 100 times better.

Plus, it has to be your own chakra, unless of course you have a chakra absorbing bloodline, in which case it'd be rather redundant.

This all works because inside a sealing scroll, the regular laws of dispersion don't apply, in effect, this means that while in the outside world chakra channeled into an object naturally shoots of into its surroundings inside the scroll this doesn't apply.

And, while unconventional, it's possible to recover your own chakra from an object, just so long as it hasn't mixed so much with other chakra that it no longer comes under your control.

This actually brings up an important point, if something's chakra is so polluted with your own, it can come under your control. For most objects, this is just impracticably expensive, as chakra is in everything.

But, with exceptional control, it's possible to be telekinetic with certain objects of small size and material. I wonder if this is related to the Ichibi's control over sand, perhaps its own chakra is so similar that its control extends to the sand.

That'd also explain phenomena like the Third Kazekage's control of iron; maybe he was born with a chakra signature so very similar to magnetic iron that he can simply move it at will. Kind of like the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, it can be controlled to go in the direction the user desires.

This also explains why my whip is easier to use while I have chakra in it, my mind is subconsciously telling it where to go. Of course, this was all so intriguing that I couldn't exactly leave it to myself, which brings us to now.

"And that's my theory," I concluded, expectantly waiting for my sensei to form some kind of rebuttal or encouragement.

"Kukuku, how very interesting, yes, even I didn't expect this much from you."

Well, encouragement it is, I won't even need to demonstrate it at this rate.

"But, it'd be much more convincing if you could prove it."

I confidently pulled out a piece of paper specially prepared just for this. I'd been saturating it with my chakra for quite some time, and now it responded quite significantly to my will.

I set it down at the table, removing my hands, but keeping them in sight, and then I concentrated. I watched in repetitive fascination as the paper swayed to and fro, going so far as to float for a bit.

The Sannin was suitably impressed, "I see, now _that _is interesting." He got a faraway look, his own massive intellect working overtime to apply this to his work.

"Now to continue, with extrapolation, we can assume that it's possible to change ones chakra to suit some kind of material, rather than simply overwhelming what little chakra an inanimate object possesses. We already know that chakra can be changed in its very nature, expressed every single day with elemental techniques."

"So, you wish to say that one can change chakra into something other than the elements."

"I'm really not bringing anything new to the table; isolated cases of ninja using strange techniques are not uncommon. As I said earlier, the Sandaime Kazekage is an example of such."

"But," I continued before he could answer, "It's also exponentially difficult without a preexisting alignment to such things, commonly referred to as chakra nature. This is why these unique specimens mostly use only their special talent. It's why Konoha ninja don't use water techniques overall; they simply don't have an affinity for it."

"Very, _very_, interesting, I do hope you'll continue to make such discoveries while I do my own experimenting, I'll inform the Sarutobi-sensei of course."

"Go ahead; I just hope you can come up with some groundbreaking use of my discovery. Also, I hope you have a way to identify an object's signature, otherwise it's all trial and error." I got up, feeling rather proud of myself for leaving even Orochimaru mildly speechless through this whole affair.

But, honestly, I only shared this with him to cement myself as his favorite student; that kind of privilege doesn't come along every day. If only I had known just how incredibly successful it would be.

I looked down at my hands in frustration, I hated grinding, no; I _really _hated grinding. Which, of course, explained my frustration with my current mundane task: Hitting the Flagpole.

Well, not really a flagpole, but punching away at a post to get arm strength didn't appeal to me. At. All. Naturally, my own mature self kept reminding me how petty I was being, so, with unvoiced protest, I did it anyway.

It didn't stop me from practicing my Burning Touch technique though. Honestly, doing two things at once, or more, was a necessity for a busy guy like me. Seriously, my honored father has seen fit to bestow upon my proudly polite self the incredible honor of etiquette lessons.

Fugaku, in his own educated state, saw fit to rub in this rather awful state of affairs. It's not that I particularly disliked the lessons, or the teacher thereof, so much as I perceived them to be a waste of time for a busy guy like me.

Honestly, I was hoping to focus on fuinjutsu and now I'm diverted to taijutsu and politicking. Not fun.

Seriously, no one respects mushy mouthed guys; they respect well-spoken, polite, firm, and utterly handsome individuals. And, if my current looks are anything to go by, I'll fit at least three of those.

I punched again, ignoring the cauterization of my bloody hands in favor of punching again. At least with something like this you could let your mind wander a little.

In any case, it seems my little thinking session, and Orochimaru's subsequent report to Sarutobi, went well. I like figuring out pseudo-science like chakra and fuinjutsu, and who knows, maybe, if I do enough thinking, I'll make it into a real science.

Nothing like telling the Hokage, "You want to control paper, make your chakra act like paper." And don't say it's impossible, obviously Konan was successful. That's not to say that just anybody can do it, but, with proper investigation and training, Konoha might just have a special metal/paper/glass-kinetic force in a few years.

Hopefully Danzo is not the one to pursue this, though I wouldn't be surprised if he was, never liked the guy. Not that I've met him, to be frank.

I punched again, maybe it really was time to crack down and learn that Rasengan, yes, I think it is.

I finished my quota of punches, and then sauntered over to the hospital, luckily, the Uchiha have their very own medic-nin here, so, I can kiss my wounds good-bye.

"Training, wooden pole, unintentional, totally expected, completely minor, the pain is throbbing." I rattled off, happy with my own memory prowess.

The doctor looked unimpressed, opting to just write my answers to the mandatory questions down wordlessly before healing my hands up.

"Have a good day," He said rather mechanically as he got up to leave.

"You as well sir, may life favor you with good fortune because of your goodness to me." It sounded so much like a starving person thanking their savior that it was almost funny; almost. Starving is no way to die, and certainly not funny.

Choking on your own blood while you bled out was no way to die either; and one that was entirely gross. I hated washing clothes, and bloodstains always meant you had to. On that note, blood doesn't actually spurt out much from wounds on the neck, but even a little is cause for concern.

I suppose this is my own extraordinary way of coping with killing, worrying about cleaning my clothes afterwards. But really, killing can be so expensive.

I hurried back to the Uchiha training grounds, where I would not be seen by enemy eyes. I'd not forgotten to bring the toughest and most spherical water balloons available, to my wallet's dismay.

Fortunately for me, D-ranks provided a reasonable supplement to my allowance, plus I didn't have to pay for most of my meals. Let it not be said that belonging to a clan is without advantages, though the responsibilities are not inconsequential.

Now, swirl my chakra inside the balloon without popping it. Or does popping come first? I think it does, let's go with that.

I focused, sending my chakra into the water, noting the strange interaction between the two. I hope this was done with a water balloon, and not a normal one, I think I've got this right.

I starting rotating my chakra around, in every direction at once or some such hog-wash, right? Not a thing, if that's what it did the sphere wouldn't rotate, so at the very least, one direction trumped the others.

I relished the feeling of the water spinning faster and faster as I got the hang of it. Eventually the centrifugal force would burst the balloon, so I continued. For minutes the swirling accelerated, but I pressed on, and finally, in one abysmally wet display, the balloon burst.

At those kinds of speeds… well, let's just say I can understand why this is… was… will be a feared technique. Now to do it faster.

I spent all evening speeding up my 0 to 60 acceleration, finally hitting an acceptable mark for the day after using up almost all of my balloons. Before turning in for the night, I ate an uneventful meal with my family.

I got up as early as always, stretching and eating before heading out to meet with my genin team. D-rank done, we then moved on to kunai throwing, each of us working on a different aspect, for myself this was speed and left-handed throwing, plus the all-around moving target practice.

It's actually surprising how much you know about how kunai move after you've dodged hundreds of them. Orochimaru really is an excellent teacher.

The end of our team session came none too soon for me, as I was eager to get back to the Rasengan. I did not neglect to buy more balloons, and fill them at home.

I was not stupid, there was no way I'd be using the Rasengan wherever I went, or even in front of anyone. It was Minato's signature jutsu, and it would stay that way.

No, if anyone saw it, it'd be because they'd be dead by it in short order.

Those thoughts aside, I picked up a water balloon, now to go as fast without popping it.

There was only one way to do this, make it turn inward even more. This is the part that makes it 'self-sustaining' no doubt.

I channeled my chakra, willing it to make tighter turns, with some success at the early levels. The degree of control required to keep it where I wanted it was rather high though. Higher than I could consistently manage, if the broken balloon in my palm was anything to go by.

No one said it'd be easy, continue.

I willed my chakra faster; it had to be fast, while pushing it to make tighter and tighter turns, not forgetting to tell it to go in every possible direction.

Maybe I was looking at this wrong, perhaps the sphere as a whole rotated, while the chakra that made it went every which way inside. Well, nothing I couldn't try.

**Three Days Later**

Hah! Insider information really was king. That is, if the fact that the balloon doesn't pop anymore is anything to go by.

As it turned out, my theory was correct; the ball of chakra was something like its own entity turning every which way inside of itself and rotating as a whole. It was a strange situation where a… molecule, if you will, of chakra moved to the right, but its final destination was to its left.

I was all rather hard to explain, and I won't say I understand the technique yet, I still need to pop a rubber ball with it.

Actually, maybe my understanding is incorrect, what if chakra worked like gravity? In essence, this would mean that chakra is attracted to other sources of chakra, the larger the source, the greater the attraction.

So, with a dense sphere of chakra, all its wayward parts that would otherwise leave due to centrifugal force are pulled back in with the 'gravity'. Making the Rasengan like one big network of satellites, except these ones orbit the chakra.

That actually makes a good bit of sense, but I'm not going to put money on it. I could just be getting carried away because no one is here to prove me wrong.

Anyway, I doubt anyone'll ever fully understand the laws of chakra, if it even has them. We could get into a huge debate over why the human mind, and Bijuu for that matter, can control such a pseudo-physical energy.

It all screams of fantasy world, oh joy, this is fantasy world. Maybe I should come to terms with that first? Heck, I'm not even sure that all the laws of physics even apply here. Luckily, or unluckily, I don't know all the laws of physics.

This is all one massive rabbit trail though; for now, I need a rubber ball or two. Unsurprisingly, it took a while to find a suitably solid piece of unforgiving black rubber. I have no idea if there was anything special about Jiraiya's ball, so solid it is.

I marched over to my training ground, picking up the ball with confidence.

Overconfidence it seemed, channeling chakra through the ball was far harder than saturating water with it. Nevertheless, I continued, willing my chakra to spin, it didn't work, it didn't budge. Perhaps if I kept my chakra ethereal until the moment of truth?

I did as much, swirling my intangible chakra in the area occupied by the ball in that indescribable manner. Faster and faster it spun, until I suddenly turned it into physical chakra that could interact with reality, the ball lurched and groaned, cracks forming all over it.

But it did not burst. The thing had to burst, I just knew it. I didn't even know if this was the way to do it.

In any case, I can certainly see why Kakashi added elemental chakra to his own attempt at the Rasengan. It's laughably tempting to just turn my chakra into a blazing inferno that would easily obliterate the ball. But, there's a reason Minato didn't do this in his life-time, it's not safe.

Well, I assume that's the reason, maybe the blonde just wanted it to be wind chakra so bad he didn't bother with other natures.

Sounds like something he might do.

I picked up my second ball, this time letting my chakra remain physical the entire time. The ball was so solid however, that it just spun around and around along with. Dangerous, but not what I was looking for.

Still, I kept at it, reasoning that the inside of the ball was being torn to shreds by the many-directional chakra. In fact, I kept at it so long that I began to get dizzy, all that spinning giving me my worst yet head-ache, in this world. I'd had worse before though.

I woozily inspected the ball for damage, finding absolutely zero, I must have overlooked something. Maybe I had forgotten to spin my chakra every which way?

That didn't seem likely, I lazily swirled chakra inside the rubber ball, what was I missing? Water and rubber were fundamentally different, was I misunderstanding some other part?

Perhaps I just needed to hold onto the rubber ball with my other hand, forcing to remain still while my chakra forced it to move, in the end making it disintegrate.

Or was I misunderstanding the 'in every direction' when you think about it, fundamentally a sphere spinning is actually going every direction.

That had to be it; my understanding was shoddy, my training sloppy, and my results wimpy. I went at once and bought more water balloons, and an extra rubber ball.

I inserted chakra into a water balloon, spinning the water at an impossible speed, popping the balloon in less than two minutes. Too slow, I repeated the action, no change.

Hmmm, there had to be a better way, layers; that had to be it. I layered my sphere; essentially, this meant that one quarter inch layer turned clockwise, the next layer counterclockwise, and so on, until the sphere was completed.

I spun it inside a water balloon relishing the feeling of thrumming power inside. I accelerated it, causing the water to become so disturbed that the balloon stretched like crazy, but it did not burst. I was not amazed, nor was I disappointed, this would work on the rubber, I knew it would, the balloon was just a test of stability.

I picked up a rubber ball, channeling chakra into it in the same manner, now for speed.

I spun my chakra around and around, nearly losing some of my layers a couple of times.

Unsurprisingly, the ball was wrenched into pieces under the opposite forces once I reached something close to my top speed.

Yes, this would do nicely, very nicely.

Time to test this piece of work out; I marched over to a post, already forming the orb of destruction called Rasengan.

I marveled at the blue appearance and started to feel chakra drain, so I quickly slammed it into the pole, relishing the way it gave way before the churning of my chakra. The sphere went straight through, even as I released it and it spun away, finally dispersing after a few feet.

Yes, one Rasengan for a week's work, not bad Nanashi my friend, not bad.

**A/N: So, chapter ten is out of the bag.**

**Before you all chew me out for… go ahead, I'm happy with this chapter.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. **_**Please**_** Review, less than 10% of people do, don't you want to be in the top 10 percentile? Eh, whatever, I'll keep on writing, even if you don't. Still, I like to hear **_**your**_** thoughts and opinions.**

**-Honestly,**

**Iamwhononofyouare**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Orochimaru, kukuku.**

**Chapter 11**

By no means did I consider the Rasengan mastered, I could barely do the basic one; to continue in mastery I'd first have to perfect this, and then move on to personalization.

But that could wait, for now I needed to… get my first C-rank apparently.

"Do be careful out there Orochimaru-kun, I'd hate to lose you _or _your students," Hiruzen, said as he stamped his approval, looking all too young today.

Well, I'm not very enthusiastic about this; I had been looking forward to experimentation with my Rasengan. Anyway, something about escorting some rich man to Tea Country.

He hadn't disclosed his business in Konoha, but now that I see him… I can guess. Safely, depositing his beautiful mistress away from his not-so-beautiful wife, maybe I'm being unfair to him because of his impressive looks. But, that is my impression.

Things like that don't interest me though; I'm more concerned about the fact that bandit risk is listed as high.

How do I know you ask? Orochimaru let us three peruse the mission scroll. Somehow I think this is all some kind of first-blood mission. But hey, I've always seen conspiracies everywhere; everything has got to be planned, right?

Meh, spontaneous stuff happens too.

Our client was shorter than Orochimaru, but still a tall man. He kept a tidy and tiny chin beard, had handsome light blue eyes, and wore a clearly expensive green robe.

Hey, don't blame me; I never studied what's a kimono, or a yukata, or bathrobe, so I won't say which. He wore… boots, interestingly enough; I'd never seen boots on anyone here. Of course, my description of him would be incomplete without mentioning his hair.

It was incredibly smooth and he wore it in a ponytail, the color was a perfectly medium brown.

The reason for the boots was apparent soon enough.

"This is my man Akira, and I'm Mitsuhide, heir to some big estate down in the Land of Tea, you wouldn't know it," Our client informed as he mounted his horse, his man mounting his own.

"While I do apologize for not bringing horses for all of you, I don't expect you even know how to ride. Besides, ninja are fast, right? Well, we're not galloping anyway my hired friends." He smiled down at us congenially.

"I'm sure we'll be fine, Mitsuhide-san," Orochimaru gave the man his creepy grin, and we set off through the south gate.

Mitsuhide paused for a minute in conversation before speaking again, "Aha! I knew I knew you from somewhere, you're one of those three legendary students of the Sandaime aren't you?"

Tea Country was connected to only Fire Country, so nearly 100% of their ninja were hired from Konoha, thus, calling Sarutobi 'Sandaime' rather than 'Sandaime Hokage' is not unusual.

"Yes, I am Orochimaru, at your service," Sensei replied nicely, he didn't get up in the world by showing only his sadistic side.

I took this as our cue to introduce ourselves, "I am Uchiha Nanashi, very pleased to make your acquaintance, Mitsuhide-san."

"Hyuuga Hiashi, heir to the Hyuuga clan, you'll be safe with us."

"Hironaka Kaede, I'm nothing special," So lackluster, my female friend, that won't win you points.

"My, my, with such distinguished guards I really do have nothing to fear," He chuckled.

Mitsuhide's horse was mahogany in color, with an expensive saddle and bridle.

I saw no reason to not make conversation so I spoke up, "With such a fine horse even skilled bandits couldn't catch you, why pay for protection?"

He laughed a little nervously, "To be honest, I'm coming back with a lot of expensive jewelry, and some of these bandits are quite intelligent, I'm sure they know by now," He brightened before continuing, "Besides, my father is a rich man, the cost of a C-rank mission is hardly prohibitive."

"Are you looking forward to inheriting, or do you place more stock in the freedom of not owning land?"

"Honestly? Father is a wise man, far better at managing tenants then I'll ever be; I'd like for him to live forever. Still, he won't, and I'm not going to squander our family's wealth, so I suppose duty brings me home."

"Very responsible, I can respect that."

Mitsuhide raised an eyebrow at me, looking me over, why would he… Ah! I'm so very tiny, like a ten year-old, well, I am one. He's probably wondering over my manner of speech and my oh-so-mature replies.

Anyway, he seems a good fellow, perhaps I misjudged him? It's of no consequence, we're hired to keep him safe, so safe he shall be.

We walked on, or rode on, depending which of us you're talking about, for about half-an-hour in silence, before I again broke the rapidly repairing ice.

"So, who's the lucky recipient?"

Mitsuhide looked at me for a bit, then his expression illuminated, "Of the jewelry, yes?"

I nodded as he continued, "It's for my mother, Father is busy so he really doesn't have time to buy these things, I however, am more than happy to get out and run some errands."

"So, Tea Country doesn't have fine jewelers I take it?"

"How very insightful, it's true; Tea Country doesn't really have a lot of raw material for that kind of thing, so it's far too expensive for a jeweler to work down there."

"Interesting, I hope this doesn't count as prying, but are you married?"

"Well, it'd be no secret if I was or wasn't, so, prying it is not; and no, I'm not married."

"I see, then I hope you'll find the right one soon."

"Or that Father will find her for me, I'd rather marry for love, but that's just because I've read too many novels."

"Well, love doesn't always come before marriage, it can come after."

He got a faraway look, "Yes, yes, I suppose it can."

We walked on in silence again.

My thoughts, however, were far from silent, this time on the subject of weaponry. I loved weapons that could keep a sword wielder away, a result of always being the little guy. However, I was aware of the flaws in my current whip, the thing was always eager to stop cutting at the braid points, and the force was unevenly distributed.

In combat, this could result in one string of the whip getting caught in the enemy's body while the rest went straight through. While this wasn't an issue if I was dueling one-on-one, shinobi fights tended to be unfair.

One second of delay would get me killed in one-on-two, even against relatively untrained hostiles.

I needed something sturdier and more reliable, but no less pliable. This was a dilemma, I was no engineer but even I knew that a chain would not do, to clunky.

Ninja wire of the thickest sort might get me through if it weren't so stiff. There could be only one answer, fuinjutsu, or chakra strings. That's two answers, whatever, doesn't everyone get screwed up every once in a while?

Look at me, arguing with myself. I didn't really have the skill, knowledge or control for strings, so, time to read my book.

I whipped out a scroll, carefully unsealing it so the just my fuinjutsu book popped out. Hey, no one said to bring only essentials.

Under everyone's watchful gaze I began looking over reinforcement seals.

I scowled upon reading this little tidbit: _It should be noted that while reinforcing equipment is great, it also severely limits the ability of said equipment to withstand extra chakra strain. This is why it's counter-productive to keep slapping on seals to objects, the things just disintegrate, too much foreign chakra fighting for dominance._

_However, this is also why, with care, an object can be loaded with any number of precisely the same seals without consequence. I've also found that these rules apply to channeling chakra into the object._

_A seal-less object has no adverse reaction to being loaded with chakra, but, one with seals reacts poorly to such an action._

Basically, conflicting chakra = disintegration, curiously, this also provides some interesting information, assuming my earlier theories are correct; each seal has a different chakra signature.

If we extrapolate, this means that items, objects, even persons, can be controlled with the right seal. Not mentally, instead, their very chakra can come under someone else's control.

Example, assuming my theory is correct, two people with identical chakra signatures (this never happens) interact, but, if one of them has superior chakra control by a significant margin, it should be possible to dictate what the other person's chakra does.

This happens because the chakra finds no reason to not obey, since its 'master' is ordering it to do so. If this is all true (and it's probably not) this makes chakra control a very serious skill, I mean, who wants someone else to tell _their_ chakra what to do.

If we assume that chakra is related to the mind, then, theoretically, if two identical minds meet, only one can decide where the chakra goes. Of course, there is no such thing as two identical minds, just as there are no two identical chakra signatures.

All this is rather far from the subject of my whip, and wholly unproven, so, the question is, seals or channeled chakra?

The second is more diverse, by a mile, but the first is much cheaper. Example, I use my chakra for channeling and then suddenly, I have none to do my favorite technique, oh no! I'm dead.

Then we can take it to the other side, I have only one whip, it's reinforced with seals, the enemy is using the rock-skin technique, and I can't cut him, oh no! I can't beat the rock-skin anyway, let's find a new example. Well, maybe the extra cutting power from channeling would do it?

Example, I want to burn someone, and doesn't that sound sadistic, but my whip is full of seals, easy, use the burning touch on him. Yes, it seems that reinforced isn't so bad. Sturdier, more reliable, but less diverse and damaging,

Hard choices, with an easy answer, get both. Good thing I brought my long-forgotten long whip! I made to unseal it, but had second thoughts, I couldn't exactly write fuinjutsu onto one or the other while I walked.

It'd be next to impossible stationary! The circumference of ninja wire was not much; writing seals on a surface like that would not be fun. In fact, I doubted I could succeed.

I then activated my Sharingan, wanting to test a theory. Now, the Sharingan can observe chakra to a significant extent, even letting someone like me, with three-tomoe, the ability to discern color.

What does this have to do with my current task? Simple, if I can observe something's chakra, and then force my chakra to become like it, I should be able to control it.

I jumped out of position, drawing a frown from Kaede, and leapt back quickly, now toting several leaves.

I stared at them, attempting to synchronize our chakras, with little success, my own human blue wasn't getting any greene…r. Too bad I couldn't look at Hashirama's cells, if his chakra were greenish and similar to the flow if trees and leaves, that would explain wood release.

I glanced at Orochimaru, he would have some of the legendary Hokage's cells soon enough, if memory served me right. Gosh, I really wish I looked all this up before I came to this forsaken manga.

This was impossible, there had to be a better way. Let's think, implanting Hashirama's cells got both Danzo and Madara the wood release, right? Well, I know it did for Danzo, so let's focus on that.

I struggled to keep up with the tiny caravan as my mind churned.

But the Mokuton used Danzo's chakra, so… Hashirama's cells would have had to filter out the chakra, fundamentally changing it to something different, and yet Danzo was still in control.

That doesn't make any sense, either my theories are all wrong, I'm thinking about this incorrectly, or… I completely came to a stop, this was an AU. Of course it was, I existed, but would that really change the fundamental laws of chakra?

"Nanashi-kun, it's not polite to lag behind."

I snapped up, widening my eyes as I hurried to catch up.

There was just one life-raft left for my theory, control. If we assume that chakra is weird, we know it is actually, we can say that since Danzo had complete control of the arm, he had complete control of the chakra that came out of it.

This throws out the idea that someone can control another's chakra, something I am far from loath to do. So, to control something, it has to be without a will of its own?

Something like a plant, or sand, or _any _inanimate object. Let's back up a little bit; if Hashirama's cells 'filtered' Danzo's chakra, then what I needed was a filter, some kind of method to change my chakra.

Once again, fuinjutsu was the answer, from my earlier findings; fuinjutsu changes chakra signatures around even without intent. All I needed to do was find which exact seal corresponded to each object, and then pour _my _chakra in, and, probably, it would still recognize me as its master, allowing me to use it.

This actually made sense; Gaara still had control of sand, even after the Ichibi left, most likely because he still remembered what chakra felt like when it controlled sand.

This boat still floats for now, Nanashi my friend.

Perhaps I'm being too optimistic, but striving to understand at least some of the intricacies of chakra seems to be a worthy goal.

We walked on in silence again.

One thing should be said about me, I absolutely _hate _doing nothing, and walking along certainly counted as nothing. Doing nothing was utterly useless and inefficient, and therefore totally unacceptable.

So, rather than hate myself for doing nothing, I came to the brilliant conclusion of conversation.

"So, Sensei, what did Hokage-sama think of my thoughts?" I asked lowly, I wasn't about to let Mitsuhide in on this.

"He was most surprised that a fresh genin like you would be so interested in the workings of chakra, and quite supportive of the idea, if less than as enthusiastic as you are."

"Yes, talking about it is all well and good, but it's unproven, just a plausible hypothesis."

"That's the next thing to work on then, isn't it, Nanashi-kun?"

"Yes, I do believe it is."

"How much do you know about seals, Sensei?"

"I know many things, my little student, why?"

"I've been thinking, here, it's easier to demonstrate." Orochimaru looked on in interest as I drew a stability seal on a piece of paper.

I held up one finger on my left hand, dramatically channeling chakra into the paper with my right hand. Once I had reached the threshold, the paper turned to dust.

I held up another paper, this time with no seals, and channeled chakra into it. And kept on channeling for minutes, yet the paper stayed as it was.

"So, quantity of chakra isn't what makes the paper break, instead, it's conflict, the chakra signature of the seal is not quite the same as my own, and so there was conflict."

"Eventually, the paper couldn't withstand this mystical battle, and turned into dust."

I noticed the questioning looks all around.

"Now," I pulled out another piece of paper, this one I had made come under my control.

I made it flit about; drawing Orochimaru's attention to the conversation we had had a little while ago.

"If we say that each item has a chakra signature, and each seal has one too, what are the chances we can make them coincide?"

Understanding dawned on my sensei's face, the ramifications of what I said sinking in.

"What's the big deal?" Kaede asked finally, frustrated by her lack of understanding.

"As you all well know, the 3rd Kazekage has control over his famous magnetic sand. What I'm proposing is a way to make this skill nothing special, even redundant and low-ranking. With this, if successful, one could control _anything_ from glass, to sand, to trees, to dirt, to the very air itself, and perhaps even beyond."

Now didn't that sound grand, I'll probably be in my 50's before this happens though, kids.

"All we have to do is make a seal that filters chakra into another nature, like paper, and then, hopefully, the chakra will still obey its source, me in this case, thus granting at least some degree of control over paper."

Obviously, it had limitations, while with Konan it was a personal skill or talent, allowing her to have total control, with this, only a portion of the subject's chakra would be changed, thus limiting its effectiveness. But, I don't limit it, it's possible that people can learn to change their chakra into other natures than the elements, pioneering the field is the difficulty.

To let me explain, it's relatively common for ninja to learn a second chakra nature by the end of their career, in this case, instead of learning Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, or Earth, they'd learn Paper, Sand, or Iron, something like that.

It doesn't sound so impossible like this; we just need an original…

"Orochimaru, did you ever meet a girl named Konan?" I may have just dug my own grave, knowing things I can't know, but this is worth it.

He had a pensive look on his face, "Yes, the blue-haired unfortunate in Ame, didn't Jiraiya stay and teach her with those other two for a bit?"

"Yes, he did, did you know she has genuine paper techniques?"

"How would you know?" He asked, somewhat suspiciously.

"Minato got the story from Jiraiya and then told it to me," He didn't, but my mind _does _go a mile a minute.

"Anyway, where's this all springing from?"

"If we could get her to describe what it's like, she should be able to pass the skill on, even to someone without an affinity."

"I see."

"This would preclude the need for the fuinjutsu filters, allowing someone to use it as naturally as Lightning jutsu in a Fire-natured individual. Or course; if it's a blood-line I doubt it'd be so simple."

Unless, of course, chakra natures themselves are blood-lines, hence, every Uchiha is Fire-natured to some degree. That's actually a good thing to look into; both Minato and Naruto were wind-natured after-all, so it seems somewhat genetic.

I'm not yet aware of my own affinity, but I doubt it's anything but fire, it comes so very naturally.

The Hyuuga are certainly an interesting anomaly, 0 Hyuuga are without the Byakugan, maybe it's a cover up? I doubt it, I'm sure someone would have spilled the beans by now.

Hopefully all this steers Orochimaru away from his experiments on humans, rather than to them.

Eventually, we stopped for the day, settling down around a camp-fire, I took first watch, lasting a little over two hours.

Idly, I turned on my Sharingan, scanning the surroundings for foemen before returning my gaze to the fire.

I looked closer, tilting my head to the side; it looked familiar, very familiar. I formed a flame from chakra over my palm, holding it up to the fire in my view.

Now _that _was uncanny, I sent fire chakra over to the fire, feeling no conflict or resistance, rather; the fire burned higher and brighter.

I removed my chakra from the system, time to test m theory.

I concentrated on my chakra sense, reaching out to the camp-fire. It was faint, but the fire leaned towards me, despite the opposing wind. I tilted my head farther over to the side, now telling the fire to go into the sky.

Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. Not yet finished, I sent a tiny portion of my own chakra into the fire. I concentrated, forming the pliant mix into a blazing fireball.

I smiled as launched my newest technique into the sky, turning around and scanning for enemies again as I did so. As I found no one, I returned my gaze to the now distant ball of flames.

There was no way that I had sent enough of my own chakra to make that big of a ball, which means: Even fire jutsu can use their surroundings. I smiled, this wasn't actually a secret, but this did lend a certain degree of credence to my theories.

Why does it, you ask? Quite simply; I was controlling something with my chakra easily because the chakras were similar, or quite possibly the same in this case.

I scanned the area for intruders, my young body now feeling tired due to the long walk. While I sat there listening I experimented with my chakra, trying to change its frequency and color.

This'd be easier if I had some more elemental manipulation training I mused.

I idly used the Rasengan, getting up and walking a few paces out in case something went horribly wrong. I then attempted to change the ball into a fiery ball; it worked, to some extent.

After bursting into flame, the ball fizzled out of control and existence in under two seconds, not really useful. Still, wind and fire should be the easiest elements to incorporate into the Rasengan. Maybe I should look into another form of energy, combustion is covered by fire, and electricity by lightning.

Energy is expressed in fire as heat, and I'm not an expert on electricity, so, maybe kinetic energy?

Manipulating kinetics is a little far-fetched, another term for it would be psychokinesis. But if we think about the Naruto verse a different way than I have been, it's not so far out there; I myself am pyro-kinetic.

Somehow this method of looking at chakra as mystical superpowers doesn't appeal to me, I mean, really? I'd rather think of it more like a fantasy RPG, with chakra replacing mana, and hand-seals taking the place of incantations.

But, rather than binding myself to some preconceived notion, it's critical to analyze my limited resources for the answer.

I once again concentrated on perceiving enemies, this time my thoughts taking another bent.

Both Madara and Izuna had the Mangekyou, that's established, but how did they get it? Think about it. Madara's best friend was Hashirama, but Hashirama was still very much alive at the time the time Madara got his.

So then, it follows that there must be some way to awaken the Mangekyou without seeing your best friend die, or killing him. But what could this method be?

Unless it applies to lovers as well, Madara and Izuna could have killed their wives just to get the Mangekyou. That kind of makes sense, I mean, the process for getting the Mangekyou isn't some mystical and unexplained circumstance that's just 'I kill my best friend, I get Mangekyou.'

That's ridiculous, there has to be a reason for it, some kind of change in chakra due to the event that triggers the eyes. If that's the case, then manipulating chakra to become as such should be possible. Another route for Madara and Izuna, clearly.

Of course, all my theories are based on the impression that man can change his chakra at will, to an extent at least. This is a proven fact, as elemental jutsu demonstrate.

Problem being, learning all the elements is a task that only very few accomplish, to develop whole new techniques and elements, you'd need all the time i… in the world.

I looked at Orochimaru's sleeping figure calmly, contemplatively, all the immortal time in the world. I slowly looked at my watch.

I scanned the area once more, turning off my Sharingan once I was finished.

I shook Kaede awake, "Your watch is up."

She nodded quickly, getting up with the least sound possible as I turned in to sleep.

And so, with a serene expression of quiet wonder, I slept until the morning.

One dreamless night later, our little group was ready to move on to Mitsuhide-san's place.

My hair seamlessly fell into place as I got up, slightly groggy.

"Good morning, Mitsuhide-san, Akira-san, Hiashi-san, Kaede-san, Orochimaru-sensei." I turned to each in logical order as I spoke.

"Good morning to you as well Nanashi-kun, sleep well?" From the rest I got simple nods, but Mitsuhide was as eager a conversationalist as ever.

"Of course, it'd be entirely useless to have a sleepless night, so I don't have them."

Mitsuhide cracked a grin at that, "Does everything you do have a use?"

"I should hope so; even recreation is done because of its perceived usefulness."

Mitsuhide gave a large, single, nod in response, making the 'Ah' motion with his mouth as he did so.

"So, do you think we'll reach your home today?"

"Today, no, tonight, perhaps, we'll see if some vagrants make their move."

"So we shall," I gave him an easy grin that would surely reassure anyone.

"So, Kaede-san," I turned to my female teammate, "What's your ideal specialization?" I've always loved little questions like this, by far the easiest method of socializing.

"As a ninja? I'd like to be fast and slippery, non-lethal endings to combat sound good."

"I see, so something like a hit-and-run sleep-genjutsu specialist? Or a super-precise combat medic I suppose."

She smiled, "Yes, I suppose that's about right, wouldn't want you bleeding out would we?"

"If I die, I shall not be unhappy, for I shall see what lies over that horizon, yet, I think living is a little more useful." I made the 'live long and prosper' gesture with my right hand, blocking the sun with my palm as I gazed at the sky through the V.

I smirked; having good eyes really was superb.

"Anyway," I broke myself from my reverie, "I could lend you some texts on genjutsu, or personally teach you a bit."

"Yes, you do know some, don't you?"

"But of course, with these eyes it'd be a shame to not know genjutsu."

She took a slightly cross expression and poise, as if disliking my mention of the famed Uchiha doujutsu, "You do know no Kage, ever, has had a doujutsu, right?"

Her eyes widened at that tidbit, so easy.

"Well, that's true, but why would you tell me something like that, admitting my superiority already?"

"You are not superior." I stated calmly, "However, you do possess a talent I cannot hope to achieve."

"Oh, even with the copy wheel?"

"Yes, everyone is unique Kaede-san, everyone is different, and, personally, I like it that way, how boring would things be if everyone were the same?"

"Pretty dull," She admitted.

"And so, in this life, we seek out those unique persons who complement or correct our own, to the cunning, go the cunning, to the wise go the simple, and on and on it goes."

"How unsurprisingly deep of you, Nanashi-san, sometimes I forget you're younger than me."

"Age is of little consequence, there are those who at eighty can best a twenty-year old talent."

Just look at Kakuzu and Madara.

"So, forgotten youngling; how's your elemental manipulation?"

"I am not yet able to use anything besides fire."

She made a face.

"Orochimaru-sensei is a good teacher; he will teach you when you are ready." If a side-effect of this statement that is favorable to me comes of the fact that Sensei can hear us? Well, I won't complain.

"I suppose."

"For now," I unsealed an introductory genjutsu book, "Don't damage it, I'd hate to have to pay Father for the cost of a book."

"Or course, thank you." She took it almost reverently, turning to page one eagerly. I hope she enjoys it.

I sighed, slapping a mosquito that had landed on me to death.

Now to try my own thing, chakra strings. Not really my own thing, but no one else here is practicing them, so it counts.

I envisioned a chakra string coming out from my finger, and focused.

A blue thread shot out, attaching to the ground. Strange, why would it work on my first try?

Frowning, I made chakra strings shoot out of my other fingers, equally easy. What had I done to make this so easy?

Could it be related to the Rasengan? That's all I could think of, after-all; that was the only other thing I'd really done with pure shape manipulation.

Well, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I experimented with the strings, changing their length and direction at whim. I can see now why there are puppeteers, the feeling of something moving at naught but your will is truly a pleasant one.

"You didn't tell me you had such a skill, Nanashi-kun." Orochimaru said, he question wasn't articulated, but the implication was there.

"I didn't know I had it either, I knew about chakra strings, but to be honest, this is the first time I've tried."

"Oh? How curious."

Somehow, I think Orochimaru doesn't like not knowing stuff. That's why he pursues knowledge, he _hates _not knowing things, that's why his dream is something impossible like knowing every single jutsu in the world; he can't stand not knowing.

"Yes, I suppose I'll have to think of a practical application for them."

"Oh, such tricks have many uses," He smiled thinly, a string coming from his own finger.

"I see, I look forward to whatever tidbit you deign to bestow upon me," I said, careful to keep every single ounce of mocking out of my voice.

We continued our march, wary for enemies, yet fairly unconcerned.

My thoughts again took a twist, if my theories were correct, then anyone should be able to use the Kaguya's bone release? I think not.

Perhaps certain chakra signatures and frequencies are impossible to replicate without the 'talent'. I know for a fact that some so called 'blood-lines' are no such thing. So, for myself, those that are impossible to replicate without cells or DNA are kekkei genkai, those which can be are just genetic talents.

The Sharingan and Byakugan are surely true blood-lines, as for the Rinnegan… I can't say; I'm not aware of how Nagato awakened it.

Now, to explain what a genetic talent would be; something like the Yamanaka's mind techniques, it's clearly a jutsu, just one that the Yamanaka are predisposed to, to some varying degree.

It is therefore my stated opinion that one does not _have _to be a Yamanaka to learn mind delving. It's just… there's no way they would even attempt to teach them to an outsider.

As for Kushina's chakra chains? Pshaaa! Anyone with enough chakra and shape manipulation can do that. The very idea that one has to be Uzumaki to use chakra constructs is nothing short of ludicrous. Not that just anybody could reach her level of skill with them.

I activated my Sharingan, scanning for… there!

"Hey Sensei, why do we always keep our kunai clean?" Translation: possible hostiles sighted.

"So that they don't get rusty." Translation: Aware, Prepared.

Hiashi tensed slightly, covering a faux yawn with his left hand while his right unbuckled his kunai holster.

Kaede narrowed her eyes, her lithe hands twitching for her shuriken, but she withheld herself.

"Mitsuhide-san, do be careful if we run into a little trouble, I'd hate to see you die," For some reason, Orochimaru didn't alert the client, so I did it for him.

"Oh, I'll be fine."

I slipped my hands inside my jacket, forming hand-seals inside it, away from prying eyes.

"Fire!" A cry resounded through the forest we were bordering on one side.

Arrows, around twenty, came barreling towards us. Hironaka pulled Mitsuhide off his horse, forcing him to lie on the ground. Akira made do himself, drawing a katana as he jumped down.

"Hit 'em with another volley you females!"

A garbled chorus of thankfully indistinguishable voices greeted his statement, and another volley came.

"Let's go get loot!" The bandits jumped forward, the leader first among them. He was a perfect candidate for 'brute thug'; he had a large muscled appearance, being bald with several nasty scars.

I smiled psychotically, "Shall I kill them, Sensei?" I gave myself the most insane expression I could manage, using a high-pitched voice of eager anticipation.

"Yes," He gave his own grin, this one bloodthirsty, and truly heart-felt.

"Katon: Great Fireball!" I screamed at them, the orange ball of fiery death shooting out from my mouth in all its blazing fury.

I only caught a couple of them, the bandits being far enough out to react in time, but my crazy laughter did more to shake them than fifteen more deaths would have.

I scrambled over one of the burnt corpses, cackling all the while, "Two little birdies down, forty little birdies to go!"

"Can I eat it?" I asked, looking to Orochimaru as I tilted my head to the side. I lifted a charred piece of roast bandit as I did so, for extra effect.

"I'm sure we can find someone better for you to eat." He smiled indulgently.

"M-monster!" The leader finally cried, running for all he was worth to the forest.

Once the bandits were gone I broke down in laughter, "Oh the looks on their faces!" I do love a good joke, but really, I should get this burn treated, that roast bandit was still fresh out of the oven.

Orochimaru cracked a small grin, his own sense of humor still existent, even as the rest of the group looked on disbelievingly.

"Thanks for playing along Sensei, couldn't have done it without you."

"It was certainly a unique way of driving them off," He sighed, "Still, it'd have been better if we killed them."

I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly, "I guess, sorry."

Kaede finally burst out of her stupor, "You just killed a man!"

"Two, actually," I replied, deflecting the question.

"That's not the point! How can you be so nonchalant about it?!"

"What was I supposed to do, break down and cry for hours, brood over it? I came to terms with killing as soon as I figured out my name was 'Uchiha'." I spat, losing my calm for quite possibly the first time since I had come here, maybe killing had more effect than I thought.

I took a deep breath, "Hironaka-san, I apologize for losing my temper, it was uncalled for." I gave a polite Japanese bow, signifying my desire for forgiveness.

She blew out her own breath, clearly thinking the past few minutes over as she did so, "I forgive you."

I rose, rubbing my back in an exaggerated fashion.

"Idiot," She cuffed me lightly over the head.

So sweet, but it's enough to make you smile, even when you just had your first kill.

**Authors Note: So, more illustrious chakra contemplations, a little character development, plus, Nanashi starts to get comfortable with his team.**

**But will it be premature? Only the future will tell, come back later for all new episodes As a Ninja.**

**As for the end bit, why would the bandits run away? Well, I clearly was insane, and something was abnormal about me, nobody has red eyes with spinning commas in them, right? Not to mention the fact that I casually asked about eating them, so I don't think that this scene 'went a little too well'.**

**I welcome those who would shoot down my theories about chakra, just remember, just because Nanashi thinks or says something, doesn't make it objective truth.**

**Anyway, please review.**

Your new favorite author,

Iamwhononofyouare


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Uchiha clan… yet, or **_**Naruto, **_**or Naruto the character, for now. **

**Believe it or not, it's Chapter 12.**

The rest of our journey was uneventful, and we saw Mitsuhide to his mansion before midnight.

Kaede was still slightly wary of me, while Hiashi was utterly the same as always. Orochimaru, however, seemed somewhat pleased about the whole affair; as if happy I had killed. Knowing him, that's probably the reason, actually.

I related my newest ideas, in part, to my pale sensei as we returned the day after.

As usual, he wore a thin poker grin during the entire breath-hogging experience. Apparently, ground-breaking never-before-heard ideas about how chakra worked were second place to tree hopping.

Not that I'm surprised, my hypotheses are totally unproven, the ramblings of a man from another world.

As for what I left out; I wasn't exactly going to tell him about the future, so mentioning Danzo's arm was not included in the first edition. Izuna and Madara were also no-no's, as no one spoke about either, most Uchiha weren't even aware of that terrible power called 'Mangekyou'.

Of course, limited to talking and running I was not, so I saw fit to practice my chakra strings, even going so far as to swing like a monkey on vines a couple times.

Our break-neck pace quickly exhausted the little ones in our little shinobi outfit, Orochimaru, of course, wasn't even winded. So we bedded down for the night, putting up tents in case of rain.

"Hiashi-kun, first watch, Kaede-kun, second, Nanashi-kun, you're third, I don't want any missteps from any of you." Orochimaru assigned us without delay to our duties, opting to instruct us in some ninja fare. The stuff was actually pretty good, glad I memorized the recipe.

I got in my tent, falling asleep with the ease of constant practice, or maybe it's because I'm always tired that it's so easy? No matter…

My watch came all too soon, but I refused to be crabby about it. Instead I got up, stoking the failing camp-fire to keep it alive, nights could get fairly chilly.

The most exciting thing was a wild-cat; panther was the closest thing I could think of, wandering a little close to our camp. A couple warning kunai were enough to teach the intelligent beast to seek other prey.

Killing it would have been useless, the meat was no good.

I woke Orochimaru up on schedule, or I would have, if he wasn't already buckling on his gear when I moved to. I guess that's a jonin for you, internal clock and everything. I yawned, turning in to get whatever rest I could before dawn.

We returned to Konoha in the morning, Orochimaru-sensei dismissing us as he went to mission debrief.

I now had the rest of the day to myself, but I had not had lunch. Well, meals are social affairs, right? Time to find an eat-mate.

I found Minato in his usual spot, his brow bent in concentration as he no doubt made efforts to mold his chakra into something visible. Of course, making assumptions is a sure way to be dead wrong, so I didn't place any great reliance on my deduction.

"Minato!" I called, forgoing my usual formality.

"Nanashi? When'd you get back?"

"Just now, anyway, want to grab a bite, or is your memory so bad you have got to stay here until you finish whatever?"

"You buying?"

"Of course, why would I make a poor boy like you buy?"

"Because you're an awful person?"

"I'm not awful, come on, let's get some meat on those girly bones." Really, Minato is a fun guy, as long as you relax and let it flow.

He frowned at the reminder of just _how_ effeminate he looked, but made no comment.

We sought out a nice little no-name place and ordered our respective meals.

"So, what's new with you?"

"Jiraiya-sensei recently published a book, so I've been reading it; as well as working on my ninja skills, of course."

A book from the so called Ero-sennin? Wouldn't you be a little young… oh, utterly gutsy ninja, huh? Well, I won't claim to have read it.

"Huh, is it any good?"

"It's interesting, inspiring even."

"Cool. How's your team?"

"They're alright, nothing to write home about, nice though, luckily bullies are a thing of the very long past." He grinned, passing off the fact that he had indeed been bullied in this life with a chuckle.

"Well, with a little genius like you, it's no surprise that bullies would stay away from your manly prowess." I smirked, my not-so-pleasant side coming out once more.

"Would you stop going on about how wimpy I look!?" He seemed so very offended I almost felt bad, almost.

"When a little clan-punk like me can look this good and do over a hundred push-ups… I think I have some say on the matter."

"You're too young to be attractive."

"You're too old to be cute, I look reliable."

"Reliable huh? You're probably a regular thug under that fanned out jacket."

"As long as it stays under the jacket, you'll never know." I broke off the banter with my witty reply.

"But if I take the jacket off, you're thuggish nature will be revealed." Persistent, but you missed the pitfall.

"But I'm only thuggish under this fanned out jacket, thus, if it comes off, no one will ever be able to point and say, 'Thug!'"

He stopped bringing his food to his mouth for a second while he thought that over, playing back the conversation in his head.

"You got me," He finally admitted in defeat.

"That's what I like about you Minato, always a good loser and a good sport."

"Thanks I guess."

"No problem," I went back to eating my rather delicious meal.

I paid the bill as we left quietly.

I readjusted my jacket as we walked out the business door, "So, mind telling me what you were working on?"

"When you dropped on me? Shape manipulation."

"Fun stuff, I'm not much of a teacher though, and you don't exactly have the ability to do it by sight."

"So you know it already?"

"What do you think I am, you?"

"Shut up, give me a tip; come on."

"Ok, chakra is yours to control, you just have to tell it who's boss," I answered, provoking an exasperated sigh from the blonde.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll figure it out." I jumped onto the nearest high roof, using my chakra strings to make some use out of my arm strength. Heh, impressing former classmates is one way to feel good about myself.

Ah, Minato, so good to have a friend I can rely on, I'm just looking forward to the day he becomes something for real.

I looked at the ground under my floating figure, noting that one of the people there was very… red. I grinned, today was the day of reacquainting eh?

I did several flips, slowing my momentum as I landed in front of my hot-tempered class-mate.

"Fancy meeting you here, Uzumaki-san." I grinned as I got up from my crouch.

Kushina was not impressed, if her face was anything to go by.

"I'm going to say this once, Uchiha, get out of my way, dattebane!"

"But of course," I jumped over her head, landing behind her.

"Is this better, Uzumaki-san?"

My only reply was a growl and a tightened jaw. Obviously this is a bad day for her, that's bad; she's always been the life of the party.

"Would talking help?" I asked softly.

"No, and certainly not talking to you."

"Well, I do enjoy bugging you, but it seems you really are preoccupied, I apologize for any offense I may have wrought." I left her there, jumping away on roof-tops to my own home.

"Mother, I have returned from my mission." I straightened myself out, the overpowering aura of the Uchiha compound clicking me back into my formal mode.

"Nanashi! You're back, tell me everything." She smiled at me, her black hair looking slightly wild.

"Not much to say, the client was a nice man, we encountered bandits; I vanquished two."

"I see; any issues there?"

"To be honest? I lost my temper once immediately after, otherwise no, Father will of course make his own decision."

"Yes, your Father always was one to decide for himself, I'm sure he'll be proud."

"You don't need to reassure me, if Father is proud, he is proud, if he is not, what is it to me?"

"Go get cleaned up Son, I'll have food ready when you're done."

I felt a pang of guilt, and did not see fit to tell her that I had eaten; I could stuff in some more anyway. Of course, if I had no appetite it'd look bad, as if my stomach was unsettled by killing. Unacceptable, gut, I command you to digest my lunch!

I felt a churning in my stomach, no way on earth. Luckily, I don't know if I'm even on earth.

Chakra is a strange thing, I have decided, the ability to augment any bodily process is one strange power. Not to mention all the other varieties.

I finished my bath, seeing no reason to prolong it beyond the requisite ten minutes. I put on clean clothes, the Uchiwa once again decorating my back. What is the Uchiwa you ask? Only the Uchiha's famous clan symbol.

I left my room refreshed, and the smell of Sukiyaki greeted my nostrils, ah, Mother really is very good to me. I walked over to the table, sitting in seiza once again; I found tea waiting for me, so I helped myself to a cup, careful not to spill.

Mother brought out my steaming meal in short order, truly an efficient cook.

"Have you already eaten?" I asked politely.

"Yes."

"Then I'll dig in," I picked up my chopsticks, "Thank you very much."

I ate my food, and to my delight I was able to fit the entire serving in. Fortunately, this wasn't some kind of awkward scene from a movie, so Mother didn't bring seconds out.

"What has Fugaku-nii been doing?"

"Training, learning, getting prouder," She smiled wistfully.

"I hope he doesn't become arrogant." I said, frowning.

"You're hilarious; you act like the older brother half the time."

"Well, I've never really had a younger brother before." My previous younger brother, and didn't that feel crazy, he'd be what, 23 now? Didn't speak a word in his life, not that it made him less of a person.

So, with my technical age superiority, is it any wonder I'd act like an older brother sometimes?

Maybe it is; I can't read minds though.

Reading minds huh? Even the Mangekyou can't do such a ridiculous thing.

"Well, I'll have to curb his pride, Mother; it won't do him any good."

"And how exactly will you do that?"

I grimaced, showing him that I'm better would just make him lash out at other people, so that's a no-no.

"Perhaps love will mellow him."

"So you're going to play matchmaker?" She asked seriously.

"True, but this can't go on; however, I'm not really a psychologist."

"If it really worries you, tell him honestly."

"Then I'll do that, where will I find him?"

"Now? Probably the police station."

"Thank you."

I got up, heading over to where I knew the police station to be. I'd have to forgo formalities; they made everything so much less genuine in people's heads, not that I agree with that assessment.

With my Uchiha garb, no one gave me any trouble.

Inside the station, all was bustle and activity, with brown-haired Uchiha, Sharingan Uchiha, and even blonde Uchiha going about their business of keeping the village running smoothly, truly, lawlessness is chaos. And, the very reason for police, laws without enforcement are powerless.

I walked up to a friendly looking female desk officer, "I'm looking for my Honored Father's office."

"Name?"

"Uchiha Nanashi."

"Oh, the second son, down the hall, door at the very end."

So, the clan head's office is the width of two rooms plus a hallway? How nice.

"Thank you." I walked down, the hall, knocking politely.

"Come in."

"Father," I turned and saw Fugaku poring over some document, "Nii-san."

"Why have you come here Nanashi?" Father asked, not unkindly, rather, I've never been here before. Therefore, his surprise is not unnatural.

"I'll make this quick." I drew in a breath, "Fugaku-nii," He looked up, "Pride and arrogance have been the downfall of many peoples, nations, and clans," I said pointedly, "Therefore, your continued growth in such matters will not be overlooked. Not despite, but rather because of the fact that you are heir, and my older brother, I cannot let such attitude persist unchecked."

"In essence, it is my heartfelt wish for you to be successful, and pride is one vice a shinobi cannot afford, thank you. Good-day, Father, Brother, I hope to see you at supper." I bowed and left, hoping that whatever altercation between my Father and Fugaku occurred would be for the best.

I made my way over to the Uchiha training ground that I'd been using for some time now, wanting to test something out.

I formed a Rasengan in my hand, inspecting my chakra creation with the famed Sharingan. I threw it into the air, watching as it dissolved past a certain distance, perhaps because I was no longer controlling it, only watching?

That's for later, for now I want to test if making the Rasengan smaller is feasible. In Naruto, the bumbling fool that the manga is named after always thinks 'bigger is better', thus the ever increasing size of his techniques. However, I am no jinchuriki, nor am I so unsubtle.

Now, with my layer method, it should be simple to simply leave out a quantity of the outer layers, leaving me with say, five. That'd reduce the diameter a little, hence, lower chakra consumption. I formed my proposed modification with minimal trouble. I let it dispel.

Now four, I formed the four layer Rasengan cautiously, I was approaching the bare minimum now. The now two-inch sphere rotated easily in my hand, the tiny, bony thing now able to close around the blue ball of death.

I ran to the nearest pole, silently inserting the Rasengan into its wooden frame. With satisfaction I noted that the power was no less, only the quantity of destruction was affected.

I now worked on thinning the layers a little, reducing the diameter a little, unfortunately, past a certain point, the layers broke upon contact with solids.

A little over an eighth was the smallest I could go without risking unreliability; even then, it was uncertain if it could pierce dense substances like steel.

Nevertheless, this experiment was a success, time to move on.

I formed a standard Rasengan, throwing it into the sky. I focused on it, remembering the feeling of it in my hand, trying to get it to stay that way. Unfortunately, it didn't work, it seemed thrown Rasengan were out of the equation for now.

It was just a passing fancy anyway… what if I kept it connected to me, would it work then? This could not go untested! I formed a Rasengan in my left hand, attaching a chakra string to it with my right.

The length of a chakra string was subject to change, based on the wishes of the user. This is why skilled puppeteers barely ever moved their fingers, they just changed the lengths.

Now, theoretically, if the Rasengan is attached to me through a solid chakra string, I should be able to control it. I gave my string plenty of extra slack, throwing my ball forward.

I could feel it so clearly! I kept that calm, confident feeling of having the Rasengan in my hand, projecting my commands through the string.

The ball continued on its path until ramming into a tree, gravity having no noticeable effect on solid chakra. This is why so many ninja ignore muscles if they specialize in ninjutsu, chakra has no weight.

I grinned, this was a crutch to be sure, but it was a bloody good one. Now for the hard part, reentry.

I threw out another chakra-connected sphere, this time only letting it go a certain distance before trying to pull it back with my chakra string. Trying being the key word, the stubborn ball didn't take kindly to being recalled, so it snapped my string, and therefore dissolved.

I wasn't exactly happy about that, so this time I created four strings, one from each finger.

Lengthening each one at the same rate, and then shortening at the same rate, was a challenge. One I did not beat.

Well, practice, practice, practice. Ruefully, I realized I was low on chakra, so I returned home.

I read until supper time, enjoying the feeling of my chakra replenishing while also wondering where it came from. Of course, I knew that each cell produced chakra, with the mind generating spiritual chakra for genjutsu and similar. That didn't eliminate my questions as to how it worked, but I didn't go into it much, I've always been a 'if it works, who cares?' kind of guy, so wondering about _everything _is out of the equation.

On a different note, my current book was on D-rank and C-rank genjutsu, basically as low as conventionally 'effective' genjutsu were ranked. This is how it is for skills, support techniques get low ranks, this is why the academy three are considered E-rank, non-lethal and easy to learn.

Supper promised to be awkward, so with a certain, healthy, trepidation I sat in my spot, Fugaku gazing at me impassively.

Mother, despite being out of the loop, was certainly able to glean the tense atmosphere.

I was the first to speak beyond the standard 'Itadakimasu', "Father, it seems good to me to inform you that I had my first kill."

"How was it?"

"Better than I thought it might be." Not that anyone really knew what I thought; even I was surprised by myself.

"I see." He took another bite, "You were very bold today," He shifted the topic, causing me to nod, "I spoke with your brother, I think you two will come to an understanding."

I glance over at Fugaku-nii, noticing his faintly scowling expression, didn't go over well then.

"I ask for no forgiveness, but I pray you thought about it earnestly." I said to him sincerely.

"I thought about it, your concern is merited, but your boldness shameful."

I inhaled, "I make no move to justify my actions, beyond the fact that they were heartfelt."

"I see, such a vice is not easily corrected," Here he smiled, "But I hope you'll be there to help."

I smiled back, welcoming the fact that the gap between us was shortening.

"I'd be happy to, after all, where would you be without me?" I grinned, relishing the smiles that went around the table, ah; it is good to have a loving family.

In the morning, it was business as usual, waking and eating, then heading to the training grounds.

Orochimaru was early today it seemed; if the fact that he was already there was anything to go by.

I walked over, brimming with wariness; I wouldn't be surprised if Orochimaru pulled something on a day like this. I scanned the area with my naked eye, seeing nothing of note.

"Good morning Sensei."

"Good morning, Nanashi-kun," He replied, full of boredom.

"What's on the agenda?"

"Oh I don't know, killing your teammates?"

"No." I doubted he was serious, and even if he was, there was no way I'd comply.

"Oh, then maybe I should kill you?"

"I am ready, do as you will." I stared defiantly at him.

"Stubbornness and accepting death? Disappointing."

"And you'd rather that I kill a clan heir and betray the famed will of fire? I think not."

"Well, I suppose either way, your length of life wouldn't be much different."

"Exactly, why kill two people to live a few more minutes?"

"Oh, but who knows what you could do with so much time, maybe even kill me."

"The chances are low, though not non-existent."

He frowned slightly, "I didn't take you for one to overestimate yourself."

"I didn't take you for one to trust face value." I smirked back.

He threw a kunai past me, "Keeping secrets?" His eyes narrowed, "Good."

Yes, if anyone were to get the weird award, it'd be either him or me.

"But come, it seems we have company."

I looked over in the indicated direction, noticing Hiashi and Hironaka.

"Today, little genin, we have the very special task of teaching Konoha's future a lesson."

Well, that's a little too broad for me to draw any sort of conclusion.

"Quite simply, we'll be setting up traps for the Academy." He paused, making an expression as if he had swallowed half a lemon at once, "Non-lethal."

The sincere regret as he said that was so spectacular that even morally superb individuals would be moved. Such is the maddening, and utterly ridiculous, charisma of Orochimaru, no last name. For an orphan, he really has come far.

**3 Months Later**

Setting traps had been a nearly every-day exercise, forcing us to improve in the area. Of course, adapting non-lethal to lethal was gratifyingly easy, so Orochimaru had recovered his lost spirits as he had explained as much.

I saw no reason to stagnate, so I practiced my chakra control and Rasengan nearly every day. In addition, my genjutsu repertoire increased.

Today marked the day of the grand experiment: flat Rasengan. Curiously, this ruined the name, so I'd have to think of something. Well, first comes the technique itself.

I molded my chakra, eliminating the way the Rasengan spun to make a sphere, instead changing it to a circle.

On course, it was much harder to control, the chakra disliking the planar shape, since it could keep closer together in a sphere. This is why I had focused on chakra control, with my chakra virtually completely obedient, it'd be possible to make it do close to anything in standard form.

With intense concentration, it was possible to get it to work for a few seconds; obviously, this needed a great deal of work.

**Almost 1 Year Later**

I narrowed my eyes, looking at the paper in my hands warily. Chunin was a scary thing, a needed thing, Orochimaru-sensei had promised to take me as an apprentice if I won.

The question remained, could I? I glanced over at my two teammates; it seemed Kaede was confident at least.

Hiashi was professionally hard to read, but I could spot the subtle signs of excitement, truly, it had been a while since we graduated.

Now I saw kids of my level of power back then as novices, academy legends, battlefield fodder.

Fugaku-nii had already made jonin, falling behind any farther was not an option.

I looked at my paper again, reading the fine print carefully. It seemed joint exams were not a thing, not really a massive surprise. I signed quickly, seeing no reason to drag things out beyond what was necessary.

Kaede and Hiashi had already handed theirs in, so Orochimaru-sensei clapped his hands, "Excellent, I really do hope you win, after all, I can't have you lose to that fool Jiraiya's brats."

Ah, Minato, it seems this meeting will be of conflict.

"Of course, they're nothing special beyond Minato-kun." I answered with bravado.

"The little orphan genius, hmm," He looked pensive.

"Don't kill him," He decided.

I nodded, Orochimaru handed out kill orders all the time when they were allowed, he also made it very clear who he wanted alive. I suspect the bandits we've brought to 'a secure facility' would have been much better off dead.

In two weeks, we'd be pitted against Konoha's finest genin, and I looked forward to it.

It'd be a real chance to show off.

Unfortunately, I hadn't tasted defeat at anyone's, excluding Orochimaru's, in a very long time, rather ego boosting, despite my best mental efforts. So, the chance to get beaten by my peers was welcome.

If worst came to worst, I could just use my planar Rasengan, the Cutting Circle, to end them. Of course, killing comrades wasn't the best way to win favor, so that would be the very last resort.

Of course, it was useful as a weak defensive technique against thrown weapons. Weak because it had the annoying tendency to get disrupted when hit on the broad-side. Still, with an angle, it sent kunai, shuriken, and senbon flying away in spirals.

Of course, the chakra consumption for a full-body defense one was a little prohibitive.

"So, Kaede-san, how do you feel about this exam?"

"I feel ready to kick some butt!"

"No but's, and language."

She scowled at me, disliking my intense hatred for even mildly strong language. Not that it surprised her; I'd been this way ever since one was said in front of me here.

"Hiashi," I prompted.

"Father will be pleased if I win, I hope to conquer you out there, Nanashi."

"But of course, with the rivalry between our clans it'd be amazing if you didn't want to defeat me."

"With even normal levels of kiddie 'I want to win' it'd be natural." Kaede cut in dryly.

"I bow in the face of your overweening wisdom." I replied, mockingly serious.

"So, Sensei, until then, what are we doing?"

"Do choose for yourself, I'm afraid I'm a busy man, training any of you would cost far too much time."

"I see, something chakra intensive then?"

"I don't want to be disturbed." He replied flatly.

"Ah, well, I'm sure Father will be pleased to teach me something."

"I'm sure he will, shoo little leaflets." So saying, Orochimaru leapt up and away, leaving us to our own devices.

It seems my position as conversationalist isn't getting much respect today, why, without me this ragtag group would fall apart at the seams. I'm the thread you know.

I'm sure Minato would completely break down if I stopped buying him free meals too. On that note, let's go see the ever less effeminate blonde.

I leapt across Konoha's rooftops until I saw Minato, training as always. Really, that's why we both like each other, we're both diligent geniuses.

"Minato! Free food, your pick."

I knew he wouldn't take advantage of me; he was always nice that way.

I frowned, all this eating out was distinctly inappropriate for a penny-pincher like me. It seemed I would have to learn to cook. I suppose mother wouldn't mind teaching me, but really, I'm rather hesitant to ask her.

That's all for after the chunin exams, of course. Still, I shoved it away into a moderately accessible portion of my mind.

We sat down at some no-name noodle spot, there weren't really franchises in the Naruto-verse, and ordered. I wasn't feeling all that daring, so I got something I had eaten here before without negative effect.

"So, Jiraiya-sama nominated your team." It was not a question, Orochimaru wouldn't be wrong about this kind of thing.

"Yes, we'll be sure to win."

"I look forward to seeing your efforts."

"Confident, I see."

"Well, Minato, you and Hiashi-san are the best competition I can think of, and I know I can beat both of you, why should I not be confident?"

He made a face, "Don't think that I've shown you everything I've got."

"Should I then think you'll show it to me?"

"I will be Hokage, so defeating you is a no-brainer."

"You will be Hokage, but lose to me, you shall."

We stared into each other's eyes, each of us willing the other to back down. But it was not to be, with the rival based friendships common in Konoha, this was no surprise. Rather, what was surprising was that we had a friendship based rivalry.

I smirked, activating my Sharingan and simultaneously casting a black screen genjutsu. In the half-second it took for him to dispel it, I was already gone.

I ran across what was affectionately known as 'the ninja's road' and returned to the Uchiha compound.

With Nii-san as a jonin, Father let him take care of a good portion of the work, allowing the Uchiha patriarch to come home early.

"I'm home." I stated as I left my sandals at the door.

"Son, what brings you home so soon?"

"Orochimaru-sensei nominated us for the chunin exams; he told us today and then ran off."

Yuu frowned slightly, "Somewhat irresponsible, but I suppose it's alright, I've been meaning to teach you something for a while now."

"I look forward to it."

"I'm sure you do, come now, we have plenty of time."

I followed Father out to the Uchiha training grounds; he led me to the same old spot once more.

He handed me a chakra paper, "I assume you know what to do."

I nodded, channeling chakra into the paper, for a little bit nothing happened, then the paper began to curl at the edges, turning black as it did so. I frowned, was the curling because of a lightning affinity, or just because the paper was starting to burn?

"I suspected as much." I looked at him questioningly.

"If you had fire affinity," He took out another paper, instantly it burst into flame all over.

"So I have a tiny affinity?"

"No, your chakra is just used to being raw, your natural bent is fire, and perhaps lightning, but you've used so much raw chakra it's mellowed out."

Basically, I have a trained affinity for pure chakra? I didn't even know that was possible.

"So that means fire won't be much easier than water?"

"Unfortunately, yes. How you managed it, I don't know, but it has happened before."

"This is somehow related to my Sharingan, isn't it?"

"Yes, you've seen fire chakra, and other people's chakra, and you somehow made your chakra be neither by looking at both."

That's really hard to understand, but theoretically, I've seen fire chakra, and then when it came to using raw chakra I ran away from looking like that, because it's too similar. In the same way, I ran away from using someone else's chakra signature. On a side note, this means changing ones chakra is certainly possible.

Unless, of course, this is all an elaborate joke. Which, frankly, I find hard to believe, Father is the dead serious type.

"So, I have really down to nothing chakra?" I would say down to earth, but that's an element, incredibly easy to misunderstand.

"Yes, you've mellowed it out, forging it into something that's not one of the five elements or their sub-elements, it's not complete though."

This makes me perfect for a jack-of-all trades build, since using each of the elements is no harder or easier than the next. Of course, implied is the 'master of none', but with enough work, I can be master of all trades, all I need is time.

"Well, this has certainly been interesting, anything else?" It's all rather strange though.

"Nanashi, you need to choose, choose if you want to change back, or continue."

I thought about it, "Continue." I'm a dude, taking a few risks is the only way to win, right? What exactly I'm winning, I don't know, but someday I will.

Father nodded, acknowledging my decision.

"And now to the main event, while suppressed your chakra still actually wants to become more like fire."

I gaped, however inelegant I may have been, so this means nothing? Just that my affinity is not immediately apparent? Somehow, I get the impression Father purposely manipulated my thoughts into where they went.

Well, not totally, I doubt he's played an RPG in his life.

Basically, my affinity is hidden under now instinctive suppression, but other than the fact that using other elements will be a little easier perhaps, I see no real change. May my imagination forever become wiser.

I made a face, causing the older man to grin a bit.

"So if this was one big prank, what were you really going to teach me?"

"This," He sped through hand-seals, "Katon: Firewall!" He spat out a dense ball of fire chakra, upon hitting the ground it spread out into a towering wall of flames.

"It costs a lot of chakra, so it's not something you use in every battle, of course this technique has lots of uses," He then went on to explain how it worked, showing me the proper hand-seals.

For this jutsu, you spat out fire chakra in a dense ball, and wouldn't that be useful at mid-range, and used the dispersion from the impact to help spread the fire out. Of course, this was a decently versatile and incredibly hot technique, so it came with a 'use wisely' stamped on it.

Father wasn't kidding about the chakra cost either; even using it twice was enough to put me on the very edge of chakra exhaustion.

So, it fully deserved its A-rank, if I were to be asked.

Since I couldn't practice more without recovering, we headed back in. As soon as we returned, I lay down for a nap.

Come dinner time I was still asleep, so Mother woke me up.

I checked my mirror, glancing over my appearance carelessly, looking 'good' wasn't what I put time of the day to, but I still didn't like looking like a street-boy. Sorry street-boys. Of course, the fact that my clan would be horrified certainly factored in.

Despite shounen attempts to say otherwise, going against the grain of a clan is not brave. It's stupid. If the rules aren't utterly unacceptable, follow them. I won't go into examples of 'utterly unacceptable' because really, who needs to get explicit?

Dinner was good, as always, but Fugaku-nii looked a little tired.

"How are you holding up?"

"I have infinite respect for Father, running that place is like trying to get Nanashi to stop training."

I took it in stride, "That difficult, huh?"

"Yes, and I'm not kidding, a little relaxation wouldn't kill you."

"If I felt like relaxing, I would. However, the fact remains, I do not relax. So then, what do I feel like?"

"We get it already."

"You know Nii-san, you give up so easily, I worry for when you meet that special girl… she'll already like some other guy, and you'll just walk away." I made a sad face, like one for the end of a sweet tragedy fairy-tale.

"That's ridiculous, I will marry an Uchiha girl; she'll come with me because she has to."

"Oh ho, but love is a powerful thing. If she loves another man, even a clan will not stop her."

"Sometimes I wonder where you get this stuff, I happen to know that your library has no novels."

"You need to get out Nii-san; I just pick this stuff up off the sappy streets."

"And you need to stop making jokes about other people's love life." He advised seriously.

I nodded, conceding the point, "So, how were your chunin exams?"

"Fun, the life and death challenge of meeting opponents who want you gone… nothing can match it."

"You're full of young blood, but so am I, I look forward to beating your record."

"I look forward to your disappointed face."

For every force in one direction, there is an opposite and equal force.

So then, if one can make a leaf float above their hand, they could, by the same principle, hover above the ground.

That's the idea anyway, but my perfectly grounded body has another opinion.

What's the difference between me and a leaf? The answer is simple, air resistance. All I need to do is increase my own air resistance and boom! I'm gliding at the expense of my chakra.

I call it: Flight, Revisited!

Now, WWI airplanes were made with a light frame, and canvas. Clearly, this worked, so I see no reason to not copy the ingenious design.

For canvas, I have paper, since its lighter. Now I was in the process of making the frame.

Fortunately, I was rich enough to buy some tough, light, wood.

Nails were no issue; truly, everything seems so simple it's amazing.

I nailed on the last portion of my makeshift frame. I'd also had the forethought for this portion of the labor, behold! Tacks.

With minimalism I tacked on the paper for the wing. Soon enough the rickety thing was ready, now for the real challenge: Harnessing it to my back.

I took advantage of my whips, wrapping them around the frame and shoulders. It cut a little, but it hurt less than the price for a proper harness.

I bent down my waist, picking up speed with all my shinobi talent.

Once I was satisfied, I lifted my legs.

For one glorious second I was flying, and the next I was on the ground. My wings didn't accompany me, instead they flew on; it seemed the fastenings were insecure.

The wooden construct only went a few feet before its lack of balance caught up to it, causing it to fall lightly on its side. Fortunately, I'd been about as close to the ground as can be, so it was undamaged.

Well, that could have gone better. Too bad I didn't know any solid clone techniques, they be so useful…

Hn. Why hadn't I thought of this before? I took off my jacket, laying it down next to my whips and scrolls, even as my pale body was revealed. It wasn't anything to write home about, thousands of ninja were more imposing.

I slid under my wings again, this time sticking them to my back with oft practiced skill. This would cut down on the weight a little a well.

I repeated my take off run, lifting my legs once more. I instantly began shooting out chakra from my entire downward facing side, in this case my belly and face. Carefully I proceeded, making sure to keep the wings on.

I fell much slower than I would have without the wings, but still alarmingly quickly. I'd flown about three meters, not the worst I suppose.

Still, the chakra cost for this is clearly prohibitive, if my currently grounded self is anything to go by.

Well, I wasn't all that reliant on this working, just a theory test for something I know _can _work. Altogether, rather disappointing, and not very encouraging for the future, but, I'm sure I'll manage.

I picked up my wings after re-clothing myself, taking off towards home after I had done so.

I made the ram seal, frowning as I investigated my rather expended chakra pool; it seemed flight was far away indeed, since I had no idea how to make a jet engine. Chakra's abilities were unlimited, if you had unlimited chakra to work with, but, some things are just not cost effective.

After finishing the rest of my studious day, I retired to bed, thinking on what I'd show off in the chunin exams…

**The End.**

**Just kidding, this is nowhere near the end of this story, unless I pull a twenty yr time-skip.**

**As always, I read your reviews and seriously think about them.**

**ANYONE WHO KNOWS JAPANESE: I don't, so suggested names for my flat Rasengan are being accepted, if I get no good suggestions I'll go with my google translate version or just keep it in English.**

**Again, please review and tell me what you think, I won't hate you even if you say: 'Your story is so ridiculous, please write something new.' Or similar.**

**On another note, we've, yes we, broken 50 favs and 30 reviews, blessings on all of you, dear readers.**

**As always, Iamwhononofyouare**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't even own As a Ninja, since it's a spin-off of another thing I don't own: Naruto.**

**Chapter 13: What does a chunin look like?**

I woke without any complications, all my bodily functions in impeccable order. I got dressed quickly, preparing to eat with all the dignity of the Uchiha's second son.

Well, I shrugged on my jacket, perhaps that was a little to dramatic, but really, drama is the best way to get yourself awake quickly. I glanced in the mirror, combing my growing hair as I did so, was a hair-cut even worth it at this point?

On a side note, I hope I never grow facial hair; shaving takes too much time from a man. On a different side note, I hope I never need braces for my teeth.

I ambled over to where we usually ate, noting without surprise that breakfast was in the air. Everything was done on an unofficial schedule, just the way I liked it.

I sat down in practiced seiza, waiting with genuine patience for my mother to finish preparing whatever delicacy was on the menu. Fugaku-nii slid the door open, wordlessly sitting down opposite me, soon after, Father came in.

Mother brought out our breakfast in no time at all, and we then ate in practiced silence. The fact that food tastes better in company is true, so long as the company is not sour. Since conversation eventually leads to bitterness, very eventually, well, our silence spoke for itself.

As always, I was reading into things like it was going out of style, I dearly hope it's not.

In a week the chunin exams would start, and I had spent my time since more productively than my slight flight fiasco. More specifically, my personal hobbies: chakra control and push-ups. I could now manage a decent number over two-hundred, thanks to my muscle percentage.

Hiashi was probably working on his Jyuuken, maybe even starting on the Kaiten. No doubt Kaede was training overtime on her genjutsu and kunai throwing. Perchance she'd even given in and studied some more on seals.

I finished my meal, thanking Mother for it. After I had put my plate in the sink I wandered out the front door basking in the morning sun.

A cool breeze swept by, the Land of Fire was warm all year round, but winter and fall temperatures were still slightly lower than the rest of the year. Altogether though, the Shodaime's forest was lucky to shed leaves twice in a decade.

Well, standing here like a piece of dead-meat wasn't getting me anywhere.

After reaching my training ground I removed my larger whip from its scroll, my larger frame now able to handle it to a much greater degree.

I swung it out down and around. It was useful against kids and cowards, but brave jonin would easily push past and cut me down, I needed something more… sturdy. With future aspirations to become a light-saber-wielding engine of mass destruction, kenjutsu was the obvious choice.

Of course, Orochimaru was hardly available, and after I became his apprentice - and make no mistake, I would - he'd teach me then.

Predictably, my thoughts turned to spears once again. Truly, kunai had no way of combatting the long thrusts of a proper spear. Of course, proper spears were rather lacking around here, so it seemed our favorite blacksmith needed some business.

I resealed my whip, once again trudging over to the blacksmiths shop. Fortunately, it was very much open.

"What now?" He asked, resigned to my custom requests.

"I need a spear-point made."

"Or do you need a spear?" He asked pointedly.

"Yes, that's right. Do you think it'd be too heavy if it were mostly metal?"

"For you? No idea kid, but the point of a spear is its lack of weight and cheapness."

"I don't suppose you have any 6' 2" poles lying around?"

"No, but I can get one for the right price."

I scowled a little, "Well, you make me the best spear in Konoha, and you'll get plenty of money."

He grinned a little at that, "When do you need it?"

"Six days, max. It'd defeat the point if I didn't have it for the chunin exams."

He mouthed 'ah' but then did a double take, "You're a real ninja?"

"Didn't I mention it before?" I took in his 'no', "Huh. Must have slipped my mind," For other ninja, nobody asks them, must be because I kept my forehead protector in my pocket most of the time.

Still, didn't he know at some point or another? Maybe he doesn't think of new graduates as real ninja, I completely concur.

"Anyway, can you get it done?"

"If I put aside my less pressing tasks, sure, it's five ryo extra though."

"Three."

"Five, kid, I don't take unneeded risks."

"Four; or I find somebody less busy."

"Fine, four, you do know I can just tag those extra ryo to the cost of the spear, you'd never even know a thing."

"I know when I'm getting cheated; besides, you're honest enough of a character." Easy, say 'I trust you', so that they won't betray you as readily.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, thank you, I'll drop in in three days," I walked out, knowing well that he didn't want me hanging around any longer.

Spears are simple in nature, and thus simple in wielding; a necessity, considering my limited time. Still, I couldn't help but wonder if a Naginata would serve me better. No sense worrying about it I suppose.

I went out to the forest, procuring a decently straight sapling for my purpose. I tested the balance, not bad for an un-doctored tree. I experimentally made some simple motions, good enough.

Now for what I really wanted it for. I sealed in into a small scroll, put the scroll away and crossed my arms, utterly leisurely.

I burst into motion; removing the scroll in the same second I channeled chakra into it to open it. My practice spear was pulled out by my right hand, and I took a ready stance. To slow.

This was my major concern, if I sealed it, and I most certainly would, would it take too long to remove due to its long length? As they say, practice makes perfect.

I spent hours practicing spear maneuvers and withdrawals, until I was satisfied. Eventually, I dragged my sweaty body home, hungry for dinner.

I read a ninja book on seeing underneath the underneath while I waited for dinner time, mental preparation was half the game after-all. Nonetheless, supper came soon enough, and I was in no mood to skip.

I woke up in my normal position, my pillow distinctly dry. Good, I still didn't drool in my sleep.

My thoughts turned to the blacksmith, there was no way making a spear point would take more than a few hours. Yes, checking in on the third day would work well.

I walked with refinement to the breakfast table, taking a seat with practiced silence.

"Any chance you'll give me a hint?" I asked my brother, ever hopeful, but less than expectant.

"It's different every year."

Well, I didn't guess; still, that qualifies, very shrewd Nii-san.

I'm sure it'll follow the same basic pattern as the one in the manga… so phase one is a psych out test, number two is survival, and three is some kind of tournament.

I finished my meal in silence, not lowering myself to badger him for more hints. After I was done, I picked up my plate and put it in the sink.

"I'll be somewhere within eight hours journey," I offered to my less than curious audience as I left.

I picked up my stick spear as I left, twirling it with ease between my dexterous fingers. I didn't risk using chakra on the polo, since wood wasn't nearly as resistant as metal. Then again, if this was one of the Shodaime's trees… it wasn't, it was maybe three years max old when I cut it; Konoha has existed for over twenty-five years.

And without Hashirama's trees… well, there was no Konoha before them. I spun the pole around, stabbing imaginary enemies; too bad I didn't have the Kage Bunshin yet. Even water clones would do, clumsy, weak, and stupid as they were.

I sat down casually in the training ground, inspecting and polishing my gear. I made sure to rub a tiny bit of dirt on afterwards, shiny weapons were no good.

I checked my poison pouches, where I kept my poisoned weapons. No holes there, so we're good to go.

Time flew by in all its space-jet speed, seeing me to the entrance of the blacksmith's shop.

"Done?"

"60 ryo," My eyes became goggles, "Hey, prices are rising and you did say the best in Konoha."

He handed me the finished work, the smooth point shining in the light. I tested the balance, twirling the stick with eager ardor.

"It's good, but not that good, forty-five, tops."

"The lowest I can go is fifty-five, kid."

"No it's not, forty-nine."

"We both know you're going to buy it, fifty-three."

I scowled, "Why is the price so high?" I asked finally, goodness, a whole set of solid kunai sells for less than a third of this price.

"The metal is chakra metal," He grinned.

"What's the point of that?"

"Ah, you mean the wooden pole part, well, I know you're fond of seals, you'll figure it out."

Chakra metal costs about thirty times normal steel, so this price is actually not horrible.

I threw over fifty-three parts of my hard-earned savings, lightening my load to frightening degree. In return, the blacksmith made no complaint as I left the shop, new spear over my shoulder.

Hopefully, he's not some crook who sells iron to little kids saying 'Look here kids, chakra metal!' I _really _hope so. Though, to be honest I doubt he'd pull that on a ninja, let alone a police family Uchiha.

Police can make your life hard if you make them angry, abuse of power maybe, but it _does _keep everybody in one awfully straight line.

Fond of seals, right, as if I have the kind of fuinjutsu skill for taking advantage of this precious metal. Time to read, next stop: Konoha Archive!

I sealed my precious spear away, its healthy state too important to waste. I showed my head-band to the librarian, reciting my shinobi ID as I did so. Apparently, after a few months of grace time, you were expected to have the long code memorized.

Not a problem for ninja who have trained memories.

C-rank was my current access limit, B-rank requiring one to have at least the chunin title.

Ideally, I'd find some awesome way to make the tip zap enemies with powerful lightning. Unfortunately, that'd require me to have some skill in lightning manipulation. Well, unless I wanted everything going nuts out there.

A heated tip would be pointless, not to mention the risk of setting the stalk on fire.

Wind chakra had the same limitations as its lightning counterpart. What good would object sealing or reinforcement do me?

I tested the sharpness of the spear point, licking the blood that came out of my finger. Well, it wouldn't be flashy, but it would be sharp.

I brushed up on my knowledge, finally feeling confident enough to complete this little project.

I walked back to the Uchiha training ground, preparing my ink and brush.

I carefully drew the most space efficient reinforcement seal I knew on both sides on the tip, using my Sharingan to make it a precise work. I let my work dry in a shadowed area, the best for good seals.

With this, my spear tip wouldn't need sharpening for a very, very, long time.

Our team had already made a meet-up time and place, so I wasn't worried that Hiashi or Hironaka wouldn't show.

I took a deep breath, trying to dispel the clench in my chest. I believe this is what they call 'nervous', I hadn't had it for twelve years, or thereabout. So, to say I wished it would go away would be an absolute truth.

Before I could go on a truth tangent, Hiashi showed up, in all his pale glory. With incredibly smooth black hair and white eyes, Hyuuga could be identified by even the most unobservant idiot.

"Welcome to the chunin exams."

"Greetings, Nanashi-san."

"Well, I do hope you're as ready as can be."

"My training is incomplete."

"It always is, Hiashi-san."

"Indeed," He stood next to me, forehead-protector around his neck, showing off his unmarked forehead. That's one thing I'll never understand about the Hyuuga main branch; why on earth do they show the entire world 'My eyes can be stolen!'?

Kaede showed up, her outfit entirely practical as always, her face serious.

"Well, since team incredible is all here, why don't we join the party?"

"Why don't we?" Kaede cut in sarcastically.

I held my heart in mock-pain, enjoying her look of annoyance, "Why you ask? Because we haven't, not that that is a reason at all."

I turned, walking toward the door of the drab exam building. We walked on unchecked to our destination, room 2-3.

I inspected the seating, six rows of eleven, huh; twenty-two teams then, not a very big exam. I glanced at Kaede, "I doubt they'll sit the teams together, but if you don't understand how to do whatever they have us do, look at me."

She looked at me, not understanding for a minute, "Oh."

I was the leader, since Orochimaru wasn't with us, and she knew better than to question.

I looked at the ceiling, frowning as I saw the many sets of eyes observing the proceedings. There were quite a few chunin helping out then, eh?

Eventually, the jonin proctor came in, a wild looking fellow, with a chunin next to him carrying a box.

"Everybody line up!" He yelled, brooking no argument.

"Each one of you will draw exactly one paper from this box; it'll have a number that corresponds to a seat, find that seat and sit down."

Hopeful genin lined up and drew papers with efficiency, not wanting to offend the proctor.

I drew twenty-three, so I found my seat and sat down. Kaede must've drawn thirty-one, considering her position, lucky. Twenty-two or twenty-four would have been ideal, but being in the same row is good enough.

Two chunin stepped up to the front, carrying some sort of device.

"This is how the first phase is going to work; when I say go a paper will appear on your desk. But here's the thing, you need to write your answer to the question in under sixty seconds, and without marking your paper!"

"No talking allowed," He forestalled any questions, "Also, you pass or fail as a team in this section."

I opened the drawer on my desk, finding a pen as expected. Kaede always had one in her pocket, and Hiashi was a smart kid, so that part was taken care of.

"Begin!"

The chunin activated the device, and the tops of everyone's desks split in two and slid to the ground. That explained the spacing at least.

Write your answer, without marking the paper is it? I looked at the question, a laughably simple math equation.

Square root of four times three equals? Six, everybody knows that, so how do I write that down without marking my paper? Invisible ink was out, so how about a loop-hole?

He never said write the answer on the paper, it's just that the equals sign implies it. I quickly wrote six on my hand; then glanced at Kaede.

She was staring at me. I activated my Sharingan, showing her what I had done through an illusion. She caught on fast, writing down her answer with quite a bit of time left. Hiashi had the Byakugan, so if anyone figured out how to do it, so did he.

"Everybody up!" Everyone stood; some dejectedly, and the proctor listed off the teams that failed, ordering them out.

Only eight teams passed, well, if only one person is a weak link, the whole thing falls down. As expected, it was a psych out test, if you couldn't get past your panic, of 'only a minute!' you fail.

The next proctor came in, a pleasant looking young man, "I'm Nagano Shirou, proctor of phase two. This will be held in training ground forty-four, better known as the Forest of Death." He smiled.

"If you'll all follow me, I'll explain how it'll work as we go."

We walked down the stairs, and he began going in the direction of the Forest, "This part will be a retrieve mission, each person will draw a paper, this paper will have a picture and description of something found in the Forest of Death. You'll be responsible for bringing it to the central tower before three days are over."

"Of course, the Forest is too big for surveillance, so you'll need to sign these wavers in case of your untimely death," He smiled again, his long light-brown hair swaying a little in the breeze.

"While we do discourage killing, strongly, there's really nothing we can do."

"Be aware that in this phase also you pass or fail as a team."

After everyone turned in their wavers in he spoke again, "Please line up in order, whoever sat in seat one first and then two and so on."

This placed me fairly close to the start of the line, hopefully I drew something easy.

"Be aware that you can come in with an incomplete list, but you'll be disqualified."

Basically, if you can't take the heat, come to the tower and we'll rescue you.

My turn to draw came quickly enough, and I drew my folded paper silently. I walked down the line with it safely in my hand, coming to Hiashi, who was third to last, "Don't hesitate to pick an easy one." I told him, and he nodded back, activating his Byakugan as he did so.

Once everyone had drawn the proctor again spoke, "You just need to bring the item or creature with a paper that corresponds to the tower, one for each team member."

I smiled as I caught the implication, if we don't like what we've got, go steal someone else's.

"Please choose a gate to start at, once everyone is in place I'll give the signal."

A chunin accompanied each team, radioing in when they stopped at a gate. I waited till most of the other teams were already done, and then picked a fringe gate. Fringe meaning on the edge of population, thus we were bordered by only one team.

"Let's open our papers and strategize this," I smirked at the exasperated chunin with us, we weren't near enough to a gate for him to radio in, giving us all the time in the world.

Kaede had drawn, 'Man-Eating Leech, alive' that was pretty obvious, but there might have been more than one variety of leech, so we memorized the markings.

I had gotten, 'Giant Tiger's teeth', hard to get, but not hard to find.

Hiashi had picked out something laughably simple, 'Deciduous Tree branch, at least three inches in diameter' a big weight for some teams, but with sealing scrolls, we were not inconvenienced.

The biggest problem would be keeping the giant leech alive, since we didn't exactly have a basin for water. We'd leave that for last, then.

Getting nods all around, we finally went to our gate.

"Team in place," The chunin said into his communicator.

The bell rang and the chunin opened the gate, closing it wordlessly after we were in. We instantly ran up the nearest large deciduous tree. I frowned as we came to a branch that fit the description.

"What was your plan for cutting it off?"

He looked at me. "Always think I've got something in my back pocket huh, turn around, and Hiashi, no Byakugan."

I'd used my circle Rasengan behind them before, but I still wasn't in the mood to let them know exactly how I had done the cutting.

I focused my chakra, blue energy taking a familiar shape. First, I cut off the part of the branch that didn't qualify, careful not to make the branch into a log; I didn't want to risk technicalities.

Once I was done with that, I cut off the branch from the tree, and it fell with a whump, "All done."

We went down the tree, sealing up the wooden once we hit the bottom.

Now to find a giant tiger.

"Any tigers nearby, Hiashi-san?"

He activated his Byakugan briefly, "No."

"What's your distance on that thing?"

"Seventy-eight meters."

"Perfect, use it every thirty-nine then, that way we don't miss anything."

"Yes."

As ninja, we were skilled at estimating distances, even from tree branches. Hiashi kept up the good work until we became tired, which wasn't until dusk.

Fortunately, all of us had had the forethought to eat directly before the exam, and I again had a trick up my sleeve. Literally, since that's where I had kept the scroll with our supper.

Despite rising food costs, I had spent enough time and money to get enough food for three kids for five days. Plenty for this wimpo phase.

I unsealed my less than expertly made food-stuffs; at least they were still hot. I'd put everything in as rice, steak, or peppers, rather than say, chicken with salad in each box. Sometimes stuff really sloshed around in wherever storage scrolls sent them to.

I removed a bottle of soy sauce, white rice, and seasoned steak. Not bad for a meal on the road.

I also got out some cheap old plates I used for this kind of work, handing them out to each of my teammates.

"Eat up."

Unfortunately, all we had to contain water was water bottles, unfortunate since they weren't big enough to fit a giant leech. Nevertheless, it worked well for drinking.

"I'll take first watch, Kaede; I'll wake you up for the second so get some rest."

She scowled at having the most unfavorable watch, but accepted it. We spent the night in the trees, not for the first time, since risking whatever creatures lurked below wasn't advisable.

I scanned the area with my Sharingan, wishing that we would have found a tiger all the while. I heard a distant roar; lucky punks got one to come to them.

Heh, I chuckled at my own thoughts, who would've thought that someday I'd think that someone attacked by a giant tiger was _lucky_? Not I. It wasn't important, keeping my team alive was.

I liked them both well enough, and, well, I needed them to pass this exam. I kept watch for my three hours before waking up Kaede and lying my very exhausted body down.

I fell asleep instantly, uncaring of the hardness of what served for my pillow. The night clearly passed uneventfully, because Hiashi calmly woke me up in the morning.

"Most exciting thing?"

"A spider the size of your head crawled over your face." Hironaka answered dryly.

"Interesting, I hope he liked how very smooth it is."

Ever hot-tempered, Kaede glowered at me for not rising to the bait. "So," I asked, "Any tigers?"

"Negative, unseal breakfast."

I made no complaint, unsealing ham and potatoes for breakfast. We ate with appropriate paranoia, glancing around every once in a while.

"Don't make a sound, team below us, unknown name." Hiashi informed as he quietly ate his next bite.

"Possibly hostile?"

"Unlikely, team seems frantic; one member has a leg wound."

"Ignore them then, eat breakfast; then continue the search."

I sealed up the plates, making sure I did it in order; I'd hate to eat off of Hyuuga's plate. We silently got up and continued where we had left off.

"I'm surprised; the second phase doesn't seem much of a challenge." Kaede prompted, knowing well enough I'd have a reason.

"Ah, but you see, no other team really has hot food sealed up with them." In fact, that alone is enough to pretty much defeat the point of the phase.

"I figured you'd have that kind of reply."

"I'm sure you did, you know me well enough."

We again heard a roar, I grinned, this time it was much closer.

"Possible target, proceed with normal caution."

We all headed in the direction, finding another team running from what could only be described as one ridiculously large tiger. This was laughable, the author of Naruto sure didn't mind messing with physics a bit.

"Target acquired, teeth required," I unsealed my spear, perfect for a little big game hunting.

"Use kunai?"

"Negative, hide is sure to be too thick, see if you can catch it in a genjutsu." While generally pointless, animals could be ensnared in genjutsu as well, useful in situations like this.

Kaede left in front of the beast, looking it straight in the eye as she went through some hand-seals. Heh, now the thing would see double.

I jumped down onto its back, sticking it with my spear as I impacted. I stabbed repeatedly, until the angry monster got smart and began slamming its sides into trees. I had no interest in becoming a splat, so I leapt away.

I sealed the spear back up, then began a series of well-practiced hand-seals, "Katon: Great Fireball!"

The ball of flame roared to life, shooting straight for the tiger's face. It hit, the beast dodging the wrong one, I did say it saw double.

It screamed in pain, its eyes burnt to a crisp, its fur on fire, "Target is retreating, pursue!"

The tiger roared its agony to the sky as it ran for all it was worth, which was quite a bit, before its fur caught on fire. Tiger fur sells.

I slowly formed hand-seals as I ran, "Katon: Phoenix Sage Fire!" Six fireballs shot out from my mouth, chasing down the king of the forest.

I wove the balls around branches and vines; finally they impacted on the tiger's rear end, causing it to run with one last burst of speed. Finally, the noble creature gave up the fight, lying down to face its death.

I was just glad it didn't try to fight us before, those paws looked wicked. I unsealed my spear, taking it in both hands.

I tossed it up, catching it in my right hand in a throwing grip. I inexpertly hurled my spear toward the tiger, the incredibly sharp tip sliced through the flesh easily; the spear finally coming to a stop two feet in.

"Exercise high caution, move in."

All three of us advanced with trepidation, our fear of death keeping us careful. I activated my Sharingan, "Target is dead, collecting teeth." I signaled my teammates to keep watch while I carved the teeth out, I didn't exactly have pliers.

After I had gotten all the teeth I could reasonably manage, I gathered them up, sealing with into a new scroll. I stuffed it in my ninja pack, noting its exact position.

I pulled my spear from the dead body, wiping the handle off with my jacket.

"Hiashi, same pattern, search for live giant leeches."

He nodded, and we took off in search of sluggish water. Hiashi focused on his eyes and jumping; Kaede and I kept a look-out for enemies.

It took just under an hour for Hiashi to locate a group of the designated man-eaters. We already knew the direction of the tower, so we set off, leech in hand.

Every few minutes I'd unseal some water on top of the creature, not wanting to run any risk of its death. In due time, the tower came into view, Hiashi scanned the area, and, since he saw nothing troubling, we made the dash for the tower.

I unsealed the teeth, and the branch, handing the papers over with them even as Kaede shoved the leech at the proctor. He called over two helpers, and they confirmed the items.

"You'll need to wait in the tower until the phase is done, there's a room for you here, please don't leave it. I'm afraid I'll have to disqualify you if you do," He grinned.

"Food and water provided?"

"Of course, hungry?"

"Yes," Hiashi nodded as Kaede and I spoke simultaneously.

"A chunin will be in shortly with some standard stuff," As it turned out, standard meant bland.

There was nothing to do but sharpen kunai and play around with chakra strings; I hadn't brought any cards so poker was out. A mistake I'd never repeat.

But, it's not as if playing with chakra string was _that _boring, I amused myself by trying to shoot strings out my toes. It didn't work worth a hoot for hours, but gradually my proficiency did increase.

By the end of the day I could shoot a sturdy string from one side to the other.

Then, predictably, thought mania struck me, if I could shoot chakra strings out my toes, why not any other part of me? I held up my arm, concentrating my chakra. With a mental shove a wire of blue chakra came from it, attaching to the wall.

I grinned, who said you had to use your fingers? Not I.

My control over the length and thickness was insanely low, but the string was there, only improvement was possible. I released my control of the technique, the thread fading into the air.

I frowned in thought, if I could shoot the strings from anywhere on my body, I could also make them any thickness. I held my palm out, flat relative to the wall, and shot out what could only be described as a cable.

"Kaede."

"What?" She asked, irritably.

"Mind putting some weight on it?"

"On what?" She inquired; her face still downward into her book.

"Look up," I ordered, causing her to huff and place her book down.

"Holy-" She cut herself off upon seeing my glare, "No problem."

"This whole thing chakra?" She asked as she pulled on it.

"Yes," I have no idea how to test the true strength of the cable; after all, even the strings are enough to hold up at least fifty pounds.

I dispelled it, not wanting to exhaust my chakra pool further, "Thanks."

Still, the technique is closely associated with puppetry; and no appendage but the finger is nimble enough for such complicated work, so I can understand the misconception.

This meant the actual uses of the things weren't really modified at all, though a slight bit of versatility was added. Of course, if one could launch a chakra wire from the bottom of their feet parallel to said feet and could tight-rope walk, well, chasms would be no object.

Not that I'm foolish enough to believe that I can walk across the grand canyon any time I want yet, far from it.

I lied down in the bed provided, wanting to get in some rest.

Before long, I was awake again; I quickly got up, feeling hungry. Since I was in no mood to eat the worse-than-my-own meals the chunin brought I unsealed some breakfast. The smell of food quickly woke my sleeping team, so I wordlessly served out portions for the both of them.

Hiashi took his, thanking me properly like a good little noble. Kaede, however, was less polite; she just took her portion and stuck her hand out for chopsticks.

I grinned at the rude behavior, handing out chopsticks to the both of them.

We ate in silence, finishing breakfast before any discussion. All three of us were efficient eaters in the field, so in under eight minutes we were comfortably done.

As team leader and self-proclaimed conversationalist, I saw it as my duty to begin the talking, "The next phase is sure to be some kind of arena fight."

"One on one?" Kaede asked.

"Most likely, unless they do teams versus teams, they don't really have the numbers for that though."

"True, the number of participants seemed a little low."

Very low, the manga's chunin exams had hundreds of people, even factoring out foreign students it's still low.

"Maybe jonin who are teaching don't feel a push to make their students move on, with the lull in war right now." In truth, the villages were just waiting for a chance to strike, the nominal peace at the end of the Second War incredibly shaky.

In fact, there was no written document to prove a complete cessation of war, so tensions were rather high.

"It's a distinct possibility, perhaps even the Hokage advised against pushing the genin beyond their limits."

"That being the case, we can expect at least 65% of this phases' participants will pass."

Kaede scowled a little, "So many?"

"Only five or six teams."

"I see; if we assume that we'll be fighting one on one, what reason is there to speak?" Hiashi asked.

"None I suppose, still, talking can always help us improve."

He cocked his head side-ways a little, as if thinking. Finally he replied, "Talking can only get one so far."

"My own thoughts exactly, nonetheless, it is best to wring as much benefit from every avenue as is conceivably possible."

He nodded at this, having heard similar from me before.

We waited patiently for the end of this portion of the exam, and in due time we were rewarded, a chunin came in, "Please report to the main office."

We got up, thankful for the release from our little prison. We found Nagano conversing with another, white-haired, jonin, who smiled and broke off from the conversation after a few seconds, coming front and center.

"I'm Hatake Sakumo; I'll be presiding over the final stage of these chunin exams. This year is the second anniversary of our grand arena, I hope you like it. If you'll follow me we'll head over and the Hokage will address you."

We followed Sakumo through an underground tunnel to the famous arena, a giant pair of hands forming the ram seal off to the side.

The Hokage removed himself from his little throne regally, speaking with a voice of authority, "You are here today to prove to me, this village, and all of your comrades that you are worthy of the title chunin. I don't want you to think is a simple affair, mere nomination is an honor, making it to the final round is worthy of no less applause."

"I want you to remember this; your rank is nothing when compared to devotion to the village and its people. So may your Will of Fire burn bright a month from now, I'll see you then."

Hiruzen stood up, leaving the stage after his little speech.

"This is how the final phase will work," Sakumo spoke up after coughing for attention, "Each team will fight two battles, but not in the way you probably think."

"Each team will choose two members to fight together, and one to fight alone. Your final promotion is mainly dependent of Hokage-sama's opinion of your performance. This includes choosing wisely who will fight alone and who will fight together."

"The matches will be randomized, and we'll tell you nothing about who you're going to fight."

I glanced over at Minato, he having passed phase two. His team must be alright for them to come this far.

"In one month from today, report in at eight a.m. with your selections." The Hatake clan head left in a burst of smoke, leaving a number of perplexed genin behind him. I did not count myself among their number.

"Meet at our usual training ground in the morning, usual time," I ordered, getting nods from Hiashi and Kaede. Well, I certainly had not expected _this _setup of all things, I guess I'll deal.

**Authors Note: Thank you for reading my humble work *bows formally* I hope you enjoy it.**

**I hope you liked this take on the chunin exams, if you didn't… write a better one I guess? Anyway, as always, reviews are welcome, please look forward to the next chapter of As a Ninja, and have a very merry Christmas.**

**With all due holiday cheer, Iamwhononofyouare**


	14. Chapter 14, Chunin for Three

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, un.**

**Say Hello to Chapter 14**

I left to meet with my team at the designated location, surprised to find Orochimaru there. I was in no mood to question the genius on how _he_ got the memo, so I let it slide.

The pale jonin, however, was less reticent, "How was it, Nanashi-kun?" He twirled a kunai in a vaguely threatening manner.

"It was a surprise, I thought the 3rd stage would be a one-on-one bracket style tournament."

"Hn? I suppose that's not uncommon, proctors like to be original though." He blew it off easily.

"Yes, I suppose there is a certain allure to trying something no one else has, perhaps that's why inventing new techniques is such a rush?"

He deigned to look down at me, "You would know a little about that."

Ooh, flattery to encourage me to spill the beans, nice, "I'm sure you're far more experienced in such an area of interest," I replied, nonplussed.

"Oh I don't know, look, there are the other two leaflets."

I looked up, spotting Hiashi coming from the direction of the Hyuuga compound and Kaede coming from the market in a hurry. Someone decided to buy some things in the morning it would seem.

"Hiashi-san, Kaede-san, I am pleased you both could come."

They each greeted Orochimaru-sensei and then me, before Kaede brought up why we were here, "So, who's fighting as a pair and who's alone?"

Since Orochimaru didn't hand down any instructions on the matter, the choice fell to me. I'd already made up my opinion however, and I was quite ready to give it.

"Hiashi-san should fight alone."

"Why? You're clearly the most powerful of the team." Orochimaru prodded.

"While not unheard of, Kaede is unused to taking instructions from Hiashi, and vice versa. Besides, it's more important to win the team portion, no?" It was a fact; if Orochimaru wasn't around I was almost always team leader. The snake Sannin was a good teacher, however, so he gave each field experience to each in leading, but it fell short.

Besides, Hiashi was better suited to fighting solo than I was, if our power levels were equal. And there was no way I was going to send Kaede out in the solo fight if I could help it, she was a support type.

I said as much in a more formal wording to my little audience, getting approval. Indeed, Hironaka and Hiashi were ninja first, kids second, which lent a degree of maturity to their decisions not seen in other genin, like Naruto.

"So, are you training us or did you come only for the fun of it?" I asked Orochimaru, careful to not sound _too_ abrasive.

He stared at me impassively, "Do you need training?"

"Yes." I wasn't so arrogant as to think that I needed no training to secure my victory.

"Yes."

Hiashi's eyes narrowed slightly, his brow bent in thought, "Yes," He answered slowly, "But I'd rather receive further training from my Honored Father, if you'll excuse me."

I bowed slightly, Orochimaru just waved him off.

Orochimaru formed a couple of shadows clones, "Ask them for whatever, I'm needed elsewhere."

Such an absentee teacher, not that I was supremely disappointed; rather, I was eager to learn whatever the clone saw fit to teach me. Since I was in no mood to train in front of Kaede; I leapt away to the other end of the training ground, the clone assigned to me following dutifully.

"You must have some idea on what to teach me."

"Oh yes, what you need is a secondary chakra nature."

"So soon? Perfect."

The clone nodded briefly, "You've used a chakra paper before, yes?"

"Yes, fire affinity, with possible tiny lightning."

"Well then, what would you like to learn?"

Considering my current affinity, something more defensive would be nice, so, "Earth."

"Not a bad choice, don't expect to get much of anywhere before the match."

"That's fine; I have confidence in my current abilities."

Compared to the erratic motion of fire chakra, earth was incredibly steady, a constant rumble. Like Orochimaru said, I wouldn't be using earth chakra just for the heck of it any time soon.

For my benefit, the clone used an earth technique while I was watching via Sharingan, greatly enhancing my limited knowledge. By no means was this a simple task, but with the grand crutch known as Sharingan and my own genius intellect, success was the only possible result.

The weeks passed in this manner, Orochimaru making a clone for me and Hironaka each day. Finally, on the day before the final phase, Hiashi showed up.

"How did it go, Hiashi-san?"

"Well, I feel ready."

"That's good, because I don't feel much different."

"Orochimaru-sensei is a good teacher, so why not?"

"Because all I've learned is how to do is this."

I focused my chakra, forming a hand-seal to ease the process. The ground started to move below me, my chakra stirring up the latent chakra in the dirt, finally, I formed a cannon ball out of the earth.

"Earth manipulation, I see."

"Getting past the limitations of having no affinity is a pain, but for guys like us it's a lot easier."

Hiashi clearly understood my reference, nodding in agreement.

"D-," I fixed the speaker with a glare pulling out a paralytic kunai, "Stupid," Kaede corrected, "Doujutsu."

"Quite so, eyeballs have no intelligence whatsoever, enhanced or not."

She glared right back at me now, "Whatever."

"How would you two like to grab a meal?"

After we had sat down and ordered I spoke up, "Normally," I began, "I would tell you: 'Don't show off, get it done quickly and cleanly.' However, we need to impress the audience with our _grand_ capabilities, so don't be afraid to pull some super-powerful, preferably non-lethal, technique out of your sleeve."

"Obviously we've already decided that Hiashi will be fighting alone, but we have no idea who any of us is going to fight. Therefore, be prepared for any kind of opponent."

"Kaede, don't be useless, you don't really need to be told this, but take a little initiative, all three of us want to graduate. At the same time, if I instruct you to do something, it's going to look very bad if you disobey to any kind of negative effect, even if things would have gone even worse had you done what I said."

"That's how people are, don't complain," I blew off her ready-to-burst objection.

"And why are people that way you ask? Quite simple, we can't see the future."

That makes me slightly different from everyone else, I'm not stupid, my effect here has spiraled out of control; certain things just don't change though. What they are I have no idea, but I doubt my presence will cause the 3rd shinobi war to never exist or some such thing.

Could I have changed its outcome to favor Iwa somehow? Perhaps, since I've affected Minato.

Our food came now, and we ate in silence before I broke the ice once more, "So, Hiashi, how _did _things go?"

"Chichi-ue taught me many things."

"As silent as the grave are we?"

"Negative, the grave makes no noise."

"Technically, true. I applaud you, Hiashi-san." I made no move to clap my hands.

"Yay," Kaede made a little face as she stated thus.

"It is my most treasured honor to have studied with you in the ninja arts. How is it?"

"Abrupt Nanashi, what's it for?"

"Team Orochimaru's dissolution party."

Her face fell at that, if only slightly, "It's not as if we'll never see each other again, not that it'd be a total loss if that was how it was."

She immediately affected a poise of hurt feeling, curling her lower lip downward and making puppy-dog eyes.

"Good, good, you'll convince naïve people everywhere with that face Kaede-san, you should go into acting." Strange isn't it? Movies and kunai are the stuff of this world, not plays and katana, or guns and Hollywood.

Well, it's not as if I won't miss them both, but it's better if I'm alone for my plans.

The next day was full of visitors, the arena attracting quite a few rich, prospective, clients. It seemed Konoha wasn't afraid to show off its genin, even to foreign spies. And spies there no doubt were, from every village, great and small.

It was the way of the ninja to spy and to steal, to kill and to show off. The matches were most likely randomized for real, since no foreign ninja were part of the exam.

And don't kid yourself, randomization is a scam in nine cases out of say… eleven. Still, whoever I got I doubted he'd be a life-threatening challenge, even if his teammate were to be better than Kaede.

The Hatake clan head was full of smiles as he waited for the set time, brimming with a young parent's enthusiasm for life. It was no secret; the Hatake clan had an heir now, one named Kakashi.

It wasn't that big of a clan these days, the second shinobi war did that to a lot of clans, but still, it had been a small event. Nothing I was invited to of course.

I walked forward, bringing the paper with our choice to the white-haired proctor, "Sir, it is my honor to present to you," I handed over, "Our choices for the matches."

He skimmed through it, reading the entirely too short 'Hironaka Kaede and Uchiha Nanashi for the pair, Hyuuga Hiashi will fight solo.' He pointed out the contestant's booth gifting us with his words of wisdom, "Don't inflict any kind of physical trauma on any of the other teams, you'll get disqualified."

Basically, taunts are fine, but don't get violent kids.

On a side note, this is perfect, if we can rile up and provoke some brat and get him to attack… eh, no fun, since I don't have a specific team I want to fight. Still, other teams might try it.

"If you guys want to get a different team disqualified, go right ahead, but don't fall for any taunts yourself."

"We get it already, mom," Kaede replied.

"I hope you do, because he never said _I _couldn't inflict damage on _you_."

"You have no reason to."

"Not if I want to fight two on two, but if I knock you out then I can be the impressive kid who won two on one."

Her eyes widened, "You would not."

I grinned, "No, not today."

She clearly caught the rather arrogant implication, 'If I felt like it, I could take you out and then destroy two guys at once' since she didn't really know exactly where I stood power-wise, the tactic worked well.

Sorry to make you a guinea pig Kaede, but I need a live specimen to practice this kind of thing on. And, well, let's just say Hiashi wasn't ideal.

Hironaka and Hiashi did not take advantage of the virtual permission to attempt to disqualify enemies given by the proctor himself, opting to simply stand next to me. Before long the very last of the contestants arrived, taking their places in the stand.

The Hokage rattled off some speech for the near-glowing crowd, before handing the reins back to Sakumo.

"Our first match is: Namikaze Minato versus Yamauchi Akio!" The two made their way down to the floor of the arena, sizing each other up.

It wasn't famous yet, but Minato hated wasting time in a fight, resulting in a style that was made for the fewest hand-seals possible: Zero. Of course, since he didn't have the Rasengan or the Hiraishin yet, it wasn't complete, but it's the thought that counts.

I'd never heard of this Yamauchi, but he was obviously good enough to make it to stage three.

"Begin!" Sakumo raised lowered his arm away, signaling the start of the fight.

Minato leapt forward, throwing kunai with great skill even as he did so. Akio, however, was no slouch, easily dodging or deflecting the projectiles; and even returning fire a little.

Minato formed a single hand-seal, bunshin coming to life around him. I activated my Sharingan, not wanting to miss anything.

Behind the illusory cover of his rapidly depleting clones, Minato formed a few hand-seals, wanting to end the confrontation now. He leapt forward, a deadly wind-blade shooting from his hand at Yamauchi.

I smirked as my Sharingan broke down the technique for me, assimilating the particular jutsu. This was one of the points of interest of the Sharingan; it allowed you use a technique exactly as the other person did, provided you had sufficient chakra and control.

What it does not do is teach you how the other person acquired the skill, preventing you from learning much beyond the technique in question. And if the subject's knowledge of the technique was low, it'd be that much harder. As with all blood-lines, it's a crutch, not an end-game.

So, while incredibly useful, the copy ability was not complete. The only completion for it: to be entirely competent in all areas of chakra manipulation, making copying techniques redundant.

While sharp and fast, Minato's wind-blade was not lethal, leaving Akio in a bad state, but not in one incapable of continuing, fortunately, the genin was smarter than that, and resigned.

Next were obviously Minato's two male teammates against Akio's two female teammates.

While not as impressive as Minato, his team was sufficient, Akio being clearly the best on his team. So, after an elaborate trap and some inappropriate comments, no doubt from that fool Jiraiya, the boys won.

Not unexpectedly, next was Hiashi against his opponent, a certain Terada Seiji.

"Hiashi-san, you aren't the type for luck, so, may your skill be with you in full."

He nodded once, briefly, as he went on down to the arena; Seiji nearly mirroring his movements.

"Begin!" Sakumo yelled, even as he jumped away, letting the contestants begin.

"Terada-san, I do not know you, or your skills, but I know mine; surrender, and save yourself some pain." He took a Jyuuken stance.

"Fat chance, Hyuuga," Seiji began throwing dangerously sharp shuriken. But Hiashi was not a practitioner of the Jyuuken who trained with me with no result.

With intensely precise strokes the shuriken fell uselessly to the floor, Hiashi gracefully advancing toward his opponent. The cause? Rather denser chakra at the tips of his fingers, plus the all-seeing eye. This resulted in a quite solid protection for the precise fingers, allowing him to tap speeding projectiles out of the air.

Terada immediately perceived his impending doom, but was not ready to give up. Three hand-seals later he was across the arena, having replaced himself with a block of stone, presumably for this very purpose.

Seiji threw a few kunai; then drew a tanto, interesting. A tanto was little more than a hunting knife, but with skill, knives could be a dangerous as any sword.

Terada engaged the Hyuuga scion in a dangerous close-range exchange, resulting in the gradual closing of his tenketsu.

"Winner: Hyuuga Hiashi!" Hatake yelled forcefully as the match came to its obvious close.

"Good job, Hiashi-san." It wasn't glamorous, but Hiashi didn't even need to use his more impressive skills.

Kaede and I were up against Iwasaki, and wasn't that a bad name to have in Konoha, Toshio, and Miyasato Masami, a female kunoichi wearing a kimono. Not my recommended attire for aspiring ninja, but it wasn't something impossible to fight in.

"It is my honor to make your acquaintance, please take care of me." I gave a proper martial arts sign of respect.

Hironaka stood to my side, too proud to copy my movements and not stupid enough to contradict them. Truly a dilemma of grand proportions, in any case, we weren't here for pleasantries.

"Hatake-san, please begin the match at your leisure."

His right eyebrow rose slightly for a second, then he stepped forward, sticking out his arm horizontally.

"Begin!" He called, and instantly my Sharingan came alive again.

"I will defeat Masami; do your best against the boy."

The two we were fighting were, obviously, older than we were, but success was not reliant on such things.

"I am a child who has many tricks, the people of this world call me Uchiha Nanashi," I properly introduced myself to my opponent.

"I am a young lady who is not intimidated by you, I am called Miyasato Masami." She withdrew a box from somewhere, sitting in seiza and placing it in front of her.

"A curious strategy," I presume it's to throw me off, the closed eyes and sitting posture seeming entirely to open to even the most foolish person.

"Since I'll only receive a minor reprimand for killing you if I do… I'll just not take that risk." I went through the hand-seals, "Katon: Firewall!" I spat out the extremely dense ball of contained flammability, the target being the ground directly behind Masami.

Her eyes widened and she leapt forward, straight into my waiting hands. My own eyes widened as she burst into smoke, who'd taught her the Kage Bunshin, and when did she use it?

My eyes narrowed as I spied the box, it had to be related to that. It didn't matter, the box would die and so would she.

I unsealed my spear, leaping forward to attack the mysterious box, in the blink of an eye the box was split in two by the sharp tip of my spear. In that same moment a kunai whizzed past, I turned around.

Clever, they used a strange, useless, box and shadow clone to occupy my attention for precious seconds while the real Masami and her male friend focused on Kaede. Miyasato was sweating a little, the shadow clone having taxed her less than stellar reserves.

Hironaka was clearly being pressed to the very extent of her ability, so I rushed over with all proper caution. My spear quickly found purchase in a small portion of a distracted Masami's flesh, causing her to bleed.

Iwasaki turned his attention to me, making the mistake of eye-contact.

It wasn't refined but I did know something of the tricks of the trade, "I can see your future, Toshio."

"And what is it?" I asked in unison with him.

"You can't see anything-g," I was a tiny margin behind this time, hopefully he wouldn't notice.

Fortunately, the legend of the Sharingan seeing the future and my own copying of his words was enough to override his more rationale side.

"Your future is death!" I yelled, perfectly in sync with him once more.

He sped through hand-seals of his own, with me mirroring his movements the entire way.

"Katon: Tiny Flame Bullets!" We cried in unison, bullet sized straight-firing little fireballs emitting from our mouths. This is what I mean by incomplete, unlike with Kakashi, who used the technique before Zabuza, and therefore won; I used it at the same time, leaving the result questionable.

However, I didn't do fire training for nothing, so while our bullets cancelled each other out, mine were smaller, allowing me to squeeze out two more for the same cost.

I grinned as the last two bullets impacted against Toshio's disbelieving face. I pulled my spear out of the ground, placing it on the genin's neck.

"Iwasaki Toshio: Out!" Sakumo yelled with fervor, still full of energy. The Hatake then evacuated said boy from the arena, handing him to the medics. I doubted the scars from the little burns on his face would ever totally go away, but he was certainly alive.

Kaede had already managed to trap Masami in a genjutsu, and was placing a kunai to her neck by the time I arrived at the scene.

"Miyasato Masami: Out! Winners: Uchiha Nanashi and Hironaka Kaede."

I bowed to the audience, first in the direction of the Hokage, and then to the sides, I did not turn around. Turning your back on the highest authority is not the way to go, rude and all that, remember etiquette lessons?

I'll admit, if I'd wasted a couple more seconds on the box trick Hironaka may have been defeated, but I doubt they would have ultimately won. Since it wasn't exactly the last match of the day, I left the stage with Kaede, letting the next teams come in.

I didn't really care about their names, but what mattered was this: the same team won both fights by a decent margin.

"In two weeks you, or if you have no mailing address, your sensei, will receive a letter, which contains this village's opinion of your skills and information on whether or not you have been promoted, thank you." No second tier matches? Curious, but I suppose it's alright.

I have a certain degree of confidence in my promotion, but I won't pretend that I know everything a genin should know. Of course, it'd be very strange if the 'Firewall' didn't convince everyone watching.

Since whatever ending ceremony there was held no appeal to me, I left the area, heading home to rest up. Seriously, Firewall takes way too much out of me.

Since my family hadn't managed to extricate themselves from the audience, I was the first to arrive home. I was slightly tired, and had nothing better to do, so I just slept.

Lazy. That's what I am, lazy; my lack-luster attitude resulted in my sleeping the day away, utterly unacceptable, inefficient. To say the least, I was disgusted with myself; did I think that because I had a chance of being promoted all my worries were over or something?

Ridiculous, in a harsh world like this one cannot ever stop striving to become greater, ambition. I needed a clear goal, something grand to aim for. But then again, didn't such one-sided quests always result in foolish mistakes?

Take Sasuke for example, he had an ambition, he had talent, he pushed himself, when I left at least 50% of the readers hated him. Me included, really; revenge for family causing you to turn traitor? Something like surviving should have been more important. Of course, the reasons for the massacre were blurred in my mind at best; Danzo ordered it on suspicion of high treason.

Were the Uchiha really rebelling? Vaguely, my mind recalled, yes, yes they were. Why? I didn't suppose that tidbit would ever come to me.

But, with a little more rationale, I can actually agree with Sasuke's choice, he betrayed some glorified organization in order to gain power for his goals, preying upon everyone's desire for him to return alive. With my current mind-set, I can even respect that.

Itachi's crime is not to be laughed at, whether or not he did it on orders for the village's survival or out of some kind of twisted sense of bloodlust, the fact remains, he at the least assisted in killing hundreds. Yes, hundreds; out of all the clans, the Uchiha had the most members.

It's not as if I haven't considered leaving Konoha; Orochimaru would be the perfect opportunity. Of course, there are plenty of risks; I might become nothing more than his next body. Nonetheless, if I _do _become his apprentice, and I will, no one - I mean that - will teach me anything more.

It's kind of a conundrum; the clear choice is to learn everything useful from Orochimaru-sensei before he leaves the village. Or I could try to convince him to stay? That brought up the risk of being killed on the chance I might report his suspected impending desertion.

If only I could find some other teacher. Sasori would be perfect, but, let's be serious, where in the seven seas was he right now? Akatsuki was hardly hiring S-ranks at this point, if it even existed.

Jiraiya was out, and becoming a medic-nin was not on my list of favorite things to do. Not that I mind healing, in fact, Kabuto's regeneration sounds incredibly useful, still, bending down and healing in some hospital for years would probably be inevitable.

Orochimaru was in, I had a working relationship with him and my apprenticeship was assured if I did not turn it down.

I broke off my mind from my thinking, opting to go out of my room and eat some supper. After eating, I wasn't in the mood to experiment with my grand repertoire, so I grabbed a book and read until I became tired.

In the morning I had the presence of mind to return to our team's general meeting area.

I was pleasantly surprised to find my entire team waiting for me, though a little shocked. Shocked because to my knowledge instruction to meet up was never passed out, perhaps we know each other better than I thought?

"Told you he'd show," Kaede quipped to Hiashi, obviously pleased with her supposedly better people reading skills.

"Indeed," Hiashi replied evenly.

"Yes, I'm here. What is your favored course of action, sensei?"

"I suppose we shall define our plans, yes?"

"That is the question, to remain a team or to not remain a team?" They didn't catch the reference, but I did, and that's what counted.

"If all of you are completely devoted to me I can keep you on, I suppose." Orochimaru admitted.

"You're a good teacher, Sensei, but I think that if I get promoted I'll want a little more freedom." My, my, how short-sighted Kaede.

"Chichi-ue is of the opinion that I should quit, because my 'promotion is assured, and going around with that Uchiha is out of the question'. I am distinctly in disagreement, but I will respect his wishes."

"I see, then Hiashi, please have good fortune on your travels, my most sincere wishes for your happiness," I bowed slowly and properly.

"Thank you, Nanashi, we'll meet again," He bowed to each of us in turn, though not as low as I had done to him, but that was to be expected, he was an heir after all.

Like he said, we'd meet again, still, after over a year together it'd be strange if I didn't feel something when he left. So I did, I felt the power of loneliness, irrational though it was. It felt bad to see him really go; but I convinced myself it was a fleeting feeling, by tomorrow I wouldn't even care.

"Sensei, what do we have on our agenda today then?"

"Well, Nanashi-kun, I think it's time I began teaching you some sword skills, hn?"

"That would be perfect."

"You, girl, my clones will teach you some useful things." Orochimaru made several clones, and then said artificial beings took off with Hironaka.

"This, little one, is how to hold a sword," He took a loose stance; "I got you something a little smaller." He threw me what I recognized as a chisa katana, it had a shorter blade but an equal handle, as opposed to a one-handed wakizashi.

That's not to say it was meant to be used only with two hands, only that the handle allowed for such a maneuver.

"Should I use my Sharingan?"

"No, for something like this copying is out of the question; I have confidence in your ability to overcome the rigidity of copied kenjutsu, but I don't want to risk it."

I see, another weakness in the Sharingan, if you learn something from it you have the tendency to lose creativity, you think 'what would he do?' rather than, 'what should I do?' it's a big difference actually.

I took the same stance as my teacher, silently correcting my mistakes as he pointed them out ruthlessly. Orochimaru certainly had a teaching style that wasn't in everybody; he criticized without restraint, but gave all the more gratifying praise when one succeeded. After all, if you're always getting praised, it'll just go to your head.

We spent the rest of the day this way, indeed; we spent the next two weeks this way, until the results for the chunin exams came in.

Hiashi and I had both been promoted, Kaede was not so lucky. Her jealousy was mitigated by the fact that both the Hyuuga and I were superior in ability, but this resulted in an unfortunate case of self-loathing. To put it simply, she was depressed because she was inferior, and she knew it was her own fault. Though, to be honest, both Hiashi and I had the advantage of training since very, very, young.

It wasn't something I knew how to deal with, since my response to such things, even before my life in this world, would be to angrily tell her that she was pathetic and should just get over it. Of course, _that _just _had_ to feel wrong, so I had to be awkward around her.

Don't blame me; I was responsible in a way, enough to make me feel a little guilty.

Unsurprisingly, Minato had been promoted as well, for his impressive display of nature manipulation and general skill. Of course, if a supposed genius like him hadn't been promoted I'd be one surprised chunin.

By the end of a month I felt much more secure in my knowledge of sword wielding than ever before in my life. By necessity, I was a quick learner, having no distractions I merely pushed myself onward, ever growing in skill.

Rather than single mindedness I'd call it… the 'nothing better to do' syndrome. Nothing held anything approaching a high degree of my interest other than training and studying chakra as best I could.

By no means did I consider that I could hold a candle to anyone deserving of the rank A; but certain B-rankers were not beyond me in ability. However, this is all rather uninteresting as compared to my current situation. Kaede had replaced a dead genin, a sadly common occurrence, leaving me as the sole student of the legendary Orochimaru.

This, however, was not the situation deserving of interest.

"My first B-rank, is it?" I asked rhetorically, "Sounds good, Sensei."

"Just an assassination, nothing too difficult about it," Almost all kill missions were at least B-rank, since they were generally more dangerous than fresh genin could handle. Curiously, the cost range for a B-rank mission was the largest, since they were the bulk of missions for any village.

Our target was a wealthy businessman who lived in Tanzaku Gai, the client being his son who was eager to inherit. Apparently, he was displeased with his father, and his father was getting ready to make the second son heir. Since Konoha wanted happy merchants, they hadn't turned the request down.

Tanzaku Gai had slums, so the merchant had some skilled, but cheap, guards who were honest and loyal, according to the eldest son. He didn't want them dead, since they would continue working, only for him.

The mother, by stated mission parameters, was inconsequential; if killing her made the evidence point less to him; he'd not say 'don't kill her'.

At the same time, the mission was compounded by the fact that the client had sent a resounding no to any meetings with the hired ninja. Apparently he was prudent enough to realize that the less he knew; the better.

"When do we leave?"

"You're always ready, yes?"

"That's right."

"Then we leave now, you'll make the plans once we get there, as long as it's acceptable, it'll be what we use."

I saw, so I'd be planning when, and how, to assassinate the target. On a side note, the mission automatically failed if we didn't complete it before the second son became the heir, for obvious reasons.

It was a considerable degree of faith to put in one such as me, and I was indeed honored. Since orders were orders, we set off at once, without delays or goodbyes. With a little over-reading in, he was training me up to be ready to leave the village on the shortest notice possible without complaint. Actually, that sounds scarily realistic.

We left the village behind us, speeding to the place called: Tanzaku Gai.

**Authors Note: This one took a bit of time to churn out, holiday season and all, but I hope it's good enough for y'all.**

**Anyway, I didn't go too far into the fights, but I do wish that they at least interested you. As always, reviews are welcome.**


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